N-Doped Carbon Nanofibers Encapsulating CoO@Co9S8 Nanoparticles: Preparation from S-Rich Co32 Coordination Cluster Precursors by Electrospinning and Application for Superior Li-ion Storage

Thiacalixarene-supported Co₃₂nanoclusters encapsulated in polyacrylonitrile nanofibers(Co₃₂@PAN-NFs) by electrospinning have been utilized as precursors to fabricate N-doped CoO@Co₉S₈ carbon nanofibers(CoO@Co₉S₈@CNFs) for superior Li-ion storage. The S-rich Co₃₂ clusters capped by organic sheets afforded the well dispersed cobalt oxide/sulfide nanoparticles embedded in carbon nanofiber composites by direct calcination. The N-doped CoO@Co₉S₈@CNFs nanocomposites have been utilized as anode materials for lithium ion battery with the reversible capabilities being of 1051.8, 967.6, 894.7, 782.7, 669.5 and 525.4 mA·h/g at 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 A/g, respectively. The CoO@Co₉S₈@CNFs also showed a relatively high stable capacity of 551.7 mA·h/g at the current density of 1 A/g after 200 cycles of rate experiments. The as-obtained N-doped CoO@Co₉S₈@CNFs nanocomposites exhibited superior reversible capacity, rate performance, Coulomb efficiency(74.5% vs. 63.9%) and cyclic stability comparing with the CoO@Co₉S₈@C derived from simple annealing of Co₃₂ templates.