Layered nickel sulfide-reduced graphene oxide composites synthesized via microwave-assisted method as high performance anode materials of sodium-ion batteries

Layered nickel sulfide (NS)-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) composites are prepared via a simple microwave-assisted method and subsequent annealing in N2/H2 atmosphere. A detailed array of characterization tools are used to study their morphology, structure and electrochemical performance. It was found that these composites exhibit significantly improved sodium-ion storage ability as compared with pure NS under galvanostatic cycling at a specific current of 100 mA g−1 in a potential limitation of 0.005-3.0 V. Furthermore, the composite with the RGO content of 35 wt.% achieves a high maximum reversible specific capacity of about 391.6 mAh g−1 at a specific current of 100 mA g−1 after 50 cycles. These results prove that NS-RGO composites are highly promising when applied directly as anode materials in sodium-ion batteries.