Bubble template synthesis of copper sulfide hollow spheres and their applications in lithium ion battery

A facile bubble template synthesis method has been developed to fabricate copper sulfide submicron hollow sphere and porous sphere materials. Glutathione (GSH) was employed as bubble template source, sulfur source and assembling reagent. The morphologies of hollow sphere and porous sphere can be obtained by varying the volume ratio of H2O/methanol in solvent system. The ratio of methanol is crucial in controlling different morphologies possibly due to the difference in nucleophilic forces generated by O atoms of methanol. When used as cathode materials in lithium ion battery, the obtained copper sulfide (CuS) hollow sphere samples show higher specific capacity than that of porous sphere. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.