Acicular NiS-Ni derived from a low temperature sulfuration method as freestanding electrode for sodium-ion batteries

Acicular NiS on Ni foam was successfully prepared via a low temperature sulfuration method, using Ni foam as raw material. The as-prepared NiS-Ni electrode exhibits superior electrochemical performance as freestanding anode for half-cell and full-cell sodium-ion batteries. At a specific current of 0.03 A g(-1), it delivers initial discharge and charge capacities of 1368.8 and 813.6 mAh g(-1), maintaining of 504.8 and 497.4 mAh g(-1) after 50 cycles. After 50 cycles at various specific current from 0.05 to 0.4 A g(-1), the discharge capacity can restore to 570.6 mAh g(-1) when reverting specific current to 0.05 A g(-1). When matching with Na3V2(PO4)(3) cathode, the full cell shows charge and discharge capacities of 172.8 and 163.5 mAh g(-1) after 100 cycles at a specific current of 0.05 A g(-1). (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.