Hollow Ni-CoSe2 Embedded in Nitrogen-Doped Carbon Nanocomposites Derived from Metal-Organic Frameworks for High-Rate Anodes

Developing high-rate anode materials with large capacity for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is quite necessary for the booming electric vehicles industry. The utilization of stable and conductive hollow structures for electrode composite materials could make the desired performances possible in the future. Thus, in this study, a hollow structured Ni-CoSe2 embedded in N-doped amorphous carbon nanocomposite (Ni-CoSe2@NC) has been successfully synthesized with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as precursors. Such strategy integrates both the merits of the multicomponents and the hollow structure; the latter could facilitate both mass and charge transport, and the former (the N-doped carbon) could not only offer plenty of surface defects, improving the surface capacitive contributions, but also stabilize the electrode structure during the charge/discharge processes. As a result, the metal selenide composite delivers outstanding high-rate properties with good stability as the anode for LIBs. The structure and components design could also be extended to other anode composites in the future.