Lithium Azides Induced SnS Quantum Dots for Ultra-Fast and Long-Term Sodium Storage

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Germany), 2023-09, Vol.19 (38), p.e2302188-e2302188
• Main Authors: Cheng, Qiaohuan, Li, Yingxue, Gao, Panyu, Xia, Guanglin, He, Shengnan, Yang, Yaxiong, Pan, Hongge, Yu, Xuebin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anodes; Carbon fibers; Crystal growth; Cycles; Electrode materials; Heat treatment; Lithium; Metal sulfides; Nanotechnology; Quantum dots; Sodium; Sodium-ion batteries; Transition metals
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202302188

Tin sulfide (SnS) is an attractive anode for sodium ion batteries (NIBs) because of its high theoretical capacity, while it seriously suffers from the inherently poor conductivity and huge volume variation during the cycling process, leading to inferior lifespan. To intrinsically maximize the sodium storage of SnS, herein, lithium azides (LiN )-induced SnS quantum dots (QDs) are first reported using a simple electrospinning strategy, where SnS QDs are uniformly distributed in the carbon fibers. Taking the advantage of LiN , which can effectively prevent the growth of crystal nuclei during the thermal treatment, the well-dispersed SnS QDs performs superior Na transfer kinetics and pseudocapacitive when used as an anode material for NIBs. The 3D SnS quantum dots embedded uniformly in N-doped nanofibers (SnS QDs@NCF) electrodes display superior long cycling life-span (484.6 mAh g after 5800 cycles at 2 A g and 430.9 mAh g after 7880 cycles at 10 A g ), as well as excellent rate capability (422.3 mAh g at 20 A g ). This fabrication of transition metal sulfides QDs composites provide a feasible strategy to develop NIBs with long life-span and superior rate capability to pave its practical implementation.