Fe3o4 Quantum Dot Decorated Mos2 Nanosheet Arrays on Graphite Paper As Free-Standing Sodium- Cite This: J
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Journal of Materials Chemistry A View Article Online PAPER View Journal | View Issue Fe3O4 quantum dot decorated MoS2 nanosheet arrays on graphite paper as free-standing sodium- Cite this: J. Mater. Chem. A,2017,5, 9122 ion battery anodes† Dezhi Kong,ab Chuanwei Cheng,*a Ye Wang,*b Zhixiang Huang,b Bo Liu,b Yew Von Lim,b Qi Geb and Hui Ying Yang *b A novel composite consisting of vertical ultrathin MoS2 nanosheet arrays and Fe3O4 quantum dots (QDs) grown on graphite paper (GP) as a high-performance anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) has been synthesized via a facile two-step hydrothermal method. Owing to the high reversible capacity provided by the MoS2 nanosheets and the superior high rate performance offered by Fe3O4 QDs, superior cycling and rate performances are achieved by Fe3O4@MoS2-GP anodes during the subsequent electrochemical tests, delivering 468 and 231 mA h gÀ1 at current densities of 100 and 3200 mA gÀ1, respectively, as well as retaining 72.5% of their original capacitance at a current density of 100 mA gÀ1 after 300 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance resulted from the interconnected nanosheets of MoS2 providing flexible substrates for the nanoparticle decoration and accommodating Received 7th February 2017 the volume changes of uniformly distributed Fe O QDs during the cycling process. Moreover, Fe O Accepted 5th April 2017 3 4 3 4 QDs primarily act as spacers to stabilize the composite structure, making the active surfaces of MoS2 DOI: 10.1039/c7ta01172e nanosheets accessible for electrolyte penetration during charge–discharge processes, which maximally rsc.li/materials-a utilized electrochemically active MoS2 nanosheets and Fe3O4 QDs for sodium-ion batteries. atom layers (S–Mo–S) stacked together via van der Waals 1. Introduction 21 interactions. The interlayered space between the MoS2 layers Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) have attracted great interest in is 0.62 nm, which is a kind of suitable host material for Na+ 22,23 recent years because of the natural abundance and low cost of insertion and extraction. However, owing to their large Published on 05 April 2017. Downloaded by SUSTech 3/31/2020 4:06:33 AM. sodium, as well as its suitable redox potential (E(Na/Na+) ¼ surface energy, these neighboring 2D layers are inclined to À2.71 V vs. the standard hydrogen electrode).1–5 Nevertheless, aggregate or restack together by van der Waals attraction, the larger ionic radius of Na+ (1.02) than Li+ (0.76) makes it leading to fast capacity fading and serious volume variation 24 more difficult to nd appropriate electrode materials to during electrochemical cycles. Meanwhile, another drawback 6,7 25,26 accommodate the sodium ions. Thus, one main strategy to of MoS2 is the poor electronic/ionic conductivity. To over- improve the electrochemical performance of SIBs is to nd come these issues, one effective approach to enhance the elec- suitable sodium-ion insertion electrode materials, especially trochemical performance of MoS2 or MoS2-based composites is anode materials with an expanded interlayered structure and/or design of nanostructured MoS2 and using carbonaceous mate- 27,28 porous structure.8–10 rials as the conductive matrix. On the other hand, decorating Until now, the investigated anode materials for sodium-ion the MoS2 nanosheet surface with carbon or metal oxides acting batteries include carbon based materials,11–13 alloy/dealloy as a spacer layer can effectively prevent the structural degrada- materials,14–16 and transition metal oxides/suldes/phosphides/ tion, as well as formation of a stable SEI layer because of the 17–20 ff 29–32 nitrides. Among them, molybdenum sulde (MoS2) has unexpected interface e ects. a similar structure to graphene, which is composed of three Herein, we report a cost-effective and simple strategy to design and fabricate 3D Fe3O4 quantum dot decorated vertical MoS2 nanosheet arrays grown on a GP substrate as a binder free aShanghai Key Laboratory of Special Articial Microstructure Materials and electrode for sodium-ion batteries. In such composite design, Technology, School of Physics Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai the Fe3O4 QDs act as a spacer layer to segregate the neighboring 200092, P. R. China. E-mail: [email protected] MoS2 nanosheets and allow the electrolyte penetrating the bPillar of Engineering Product Development, Singapore University of Technology and active surface of MoS2 thereby preventing the structural degra- Design, 8 Somapah Road, Singapore 487372, Singapore. E-mail: [email protected]. dation during the charging/discharging process. In the mean- sg; [email protected] † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: time, the network-like MoS2 nanosheets with good mechanical 10.1039/c7ta01172e exibility provide ideal substrates for the Fe3O4 QD loading, 9122 | J. Mater. Chem. A,2017,5,9122–9131 This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2017 View Article Online Paper Journal of Materials Chemistry A which can accommodate the volume change and prevent the reference electrode. The positive and negative electrodes were particle aggregation. In addition, the graphite paper substrates electronically separated by glass microber (Whatman) satu- are advantageous in terms of high conductivity, exibility and rated with electrolyte. The electrolyte solution was 1 M NaClO4 lightweight for the current collector, which is also benecial for dissolved in a mixture of ethylene carbonate (EC) and propylene the performance. As a result, the as-fabricated Fe3O4@MoS2-GP carbonate (PC) with a volume ratio of 1 : 1, in which 5 vol% electrode exhibits a high reversible capacity and superior uoroethylene carbonate (FEC) was added as the electrolyte cycling life and rate capability in contrast to that of MoS2-GP, additive. The charge–discharge measurements were performed arising from the synergistic effect between the Fe3O4 QDs and at different current densities in the voltage range from 0.01 to + MoS2 nanosheets. 3.0 V versus Na /Na using a computer-controlled Neware Battery Testing system. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) was conducted by using a CHI 660C electro-chemical workstation between 0.01 2. Experimental section À and 3.0 V versus Na+/Na with a scan rate of 0.1 mV s 1. The Synthesis of MoS nanosheets 2 electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements Self-supported MoS2 nanosheet arrays on graphite paper (GP) were carried out with an electrochemical workstation in the were fabricated using a modied hydrothermal growth frequency range from 100 kHz to 10 mHz under an open circuit method.33 In a typical process: rst, the GP substrate was treated potential. Â 2 by O2 plasma for 300 s. Then, one piece of 2.0 5.0 cm pre- treated GP substrate was immersed into a mixed solution con- taining 40 mL of DI water, 150 mg of sodium molybdate and 200 3. Results and discussion mg of thiourea, sealed in a Teon-lined stainless steel autoclave (50 mL) and maintained at 200 C for 18 h. A er that, the GP The fabrication processes of Fe3O4 quantum dot decorated À2 substrate covered with MoS2 nanosheets ( 0.5 mg cm ) was MoS2 nanosheet arrays on graphite paper are schematically washed with deionized water several times and nally dried at depicted in Fig. 1a. The whole synthetic process mainly involves 80 C overnight. three steps, i.e., (i) hydrothermal growth of MoS2 nanosheet arrays on graphite paper; (ii) forming FeOOH precursors on the Synthesis of Fe O @MoS composite 3 4 2 MoS2 nanosheets through a low temperature hydrolysis process; (iii) thermal treatment for transforming the FeOOH into crys- The Fe3O4 QDs on MoS2 nanosheets were fabricated by using a facile low-temperature hydrolysis process. In a typical proce- talline Fe3O4 quantum dots. The corresponding optical images ff dure, the MoS -coated graphite papers were immersed into 30 of the as-obtained products at di erent stages are provided in 2 † mM of Fe(NO ) $9H O aqueous solution for different times Fig. S1. As shown in Fig. 1b, the Fe3O4@MoS2-GP nano- 3 3 2 (such as 2 h, 5 h and 10 h) at 50 C to convert the Fe3+ into architecture delivers excellent exibility, and can be randomly † FeOOH. Then, the samples were washed several times with bent without damage. Fig. 1c and S2 schematically illustrates distilled water and ethanol, and then dried in a vacuum oven. the crystal structures of MoS2 nanosheets with (110) and (001) crystal planes, respectively, and the interlayer spacing of 0.65 Published on 05 April 2017. Downloaded by SUSTech 3/31/2020 4:06:33 AM. Finally, the as-obtained samples were annealed in an Ar atmo- sphere at 400 C for 2 h in order to transform the FeOOH into nm also matches well with the distance between the MoS2 layers. Meanwhile, the formation mechanism of the Fe3O4@- crystalline Fe3O4 quantum dots. MoS2 nanostructure is shown in Fig. S2.† – Characterization Fig. 2a c show the SEM images of the as-fabricated MoS2 nanosheet arrays on graphite paper. It can be seen that the The morphology was analyzed by using a eld emission scan- entire surface of the GP is uniformly covered with densely ning electron microscope (FESEM, Zeiss Supra 55VP). Trans- packed ultrathin graphene-like MoS2 nanosheet arrays. The mission electron microscopy (TEM) high-resolution TEM high-magnication view in Fig. 3c further reveals that the iso- ff images, selected area electron di raction (SAED) patterns, and lated nanosheets are interconnected with each other with energy X-ray dispersive (EDX) mapping images were collected several open voids. The cross-sectional view inset of Fig. 2c on a JEOL 100CX instrument, using a 300 kV accelerating indicates that the thickness of the MoS2 nanosheet arrays is voltage. The crystal structure and phase composition of the as- 2.5 mm.