Hierarchical Composite of Rose-Like VS2@S/N-Doped Carbon with Expanded (001) Planes for Superior Li-Ion Storage

In the present work, a hierarchical composite of rose-like VS2@S/N-doped carbon (VS2@SNC) with expanded (001) planes is successfully fabricated through a facile synthetic route. Notably, the d-spacing of (001) planes is expanded to 0.92 nm, which is proved to dramatically reduce the energy barrier for Li+ diffusion in the composite of VS2@SNC by density functional theory calculation. On the other hand, the S/N-doped carbon in the composite greatly promotes the electrical conductivity and enhances the structural stability. In addition, the hierarchical structure of VS2@SNC facilitates rapid electrolyte diffusion and increases the contact area between the electrode and electrolyte simultaneously. Benefiting from the merits mentioned above, the VS2@SNC electrode exhibits excellent electrochemical properties, such as a large reversible capacity of 971.6 mA h g(-1) at 0.2 A g(-1), an extremely high rate capability of 772.1 mA h g(-1) at 10 A g(-1), and a remarkable cycling stability up to 600 cycles at 8 A g(-1) with a capacity of 684.5 mA h g(-1), making it a promising candidate as an anode material for lithium-ion batteries.