A scalable approach to fabricate metal sulfides/graphene/carbon nanotubes composites with superior electrochemical performances for lithium and sodium ion batteries

Metal sulfide composites have been regarded as a new class of the most promising anode materials for the both lithium ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium ion batteries (SIBs). However, their practical applications have been restricted by their relative poor cyclabilities and low rate performances. Herein, the numerous metal sulfides/graphene/carbon nanotubes (MxSy/GC) composites with a sandwiched architecture assembled by uniform MxSy nanoparticles anchored in the GC matrix are fabricated for high-performance LIBs/SIBs via a scalable calcination approach. As a result of the superiorities of small particle size, preferable structural flexibility and the sandwiched architecture, the as-prepared MxSy/GC composites exhibit a significant improvement in LIBs performance. Among them, the FeS/GC composite demonstrates excellent electrochemical performances in LIBs with favorable cycling stability, high specific capacity (∼870 mAh g−1 at 0.25 A g−1) and remarkable rate performance. When applied as an anode material for SIBs, the FeS/GC composite still exhibits a superior reversible capacity of 300 mAh g−1 at a current density of 0.1 A g−1 after 100 cycles.