Sacrificial template synthesis of hollow C@MoS2@PPy nanocomposites as anodes for enhanced sodium storage performance

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has become a potential anode material for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) by showing decent cell performance but it suffers poor electronic conductivity and large volume expansion during sodiation. Here we design a nanocomposite with hollow nitrogen doped carbon and polypyrrole modified MoS2 for improving the performance for SIBs. The designed nanocomposite shows a much-improved electronic conductivity and the design of the architecture provides sufficient channels for mass transport and accommodates large volume change. This C@MoS2@PPy anode delivers a high specific capacity of 713 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 A g(-1) for 100 cycles, and an excellent rate capacity of 294 mAh g(-1) at 5 A g(-1) for 500 cycles. This specific architecture of C@MoS2@PPy could guide the future design of the electrode material in SIBs and its superior electrochemical performance indicates the great potential application for SIBs.