Co9S8 nanosheet arrays supported on nickel foam for enhanced performance as anode material for Li-ion batteries

• Co9S8 nanosheet arrays on nickel foam are fabricated.
• Ni-Co9S8 electrode is directly used as the electrode for lithium-ion batteries.
• Ni-Co9S8 electrode exhibits good electrochemical performance.

Uniform Co9S8 nanosheet arrays on conductive nickel foam (Ni-Co9S8) are successfully fabricated through a facile hydrothermal method and directly used as the electrode for high-performance lithium-ion batteries. The phase structure and morphology are characterized systematically. Galvanostatic charge-discharge measurement is applied to investigate the electrochemical performance of the Ni-Co9S8 electrode. The Ni-Co9S8 electrode exhibits good lithium-storage cycle performance (720 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles, 330 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles at 2000 mA g−1).