Design and Synthesis of Sb-Doped CuS@C Hollow Nanocubes as Efficient Anode Materials for Sodium-Ion Battery

Copper sulfide has received widespread attention for application as anode materials in sodium-ion batteries due to their potent capabilitiess and eco-friendly properties. However, it is a challenge to achieve a high rate capability and long cycle stability owing to the heterogeneous transfer of sodium ions during charge-discharge, the interior poor electron conductivity and repeated volumetric expansion of copper sulfide. In this study, Sb-doped copper sulfide hollow nanocubes coated with carbon shells (Sb-CuS@C) was designed and constructed as anode nanomaterials in sodium-ion batteries. Thanks to the intrinsic good electron conductivity and chemical stability of carbon shells, Sb-CuS@C possesses a higher overall electron transfer as anode material, avoids agglomeration and structural destruction during the cycling. As a result, the synthesized Sb-CuS@C achieved an excellent reversible capacity of 595 mA h g⁻¹ after 100 cycles at 0.5 A g⁻¹ and a good rate capability of 340 mA h g⁻¹ at a higher 10 A g⁻¹. DFT calculations clarify that the uniformly doped Sb would act as active sodiophilic nucleation sites to help adsorbing sodium-ion during discharging and leading uniform sodium deposition. This work provides a new insight into the structural and componential modification for common transition-metal sulfides towards application as anode materials in sodium-ion battery.