A mild route to mesoporous Mo2C-C hybrid nanospheres for high performance lithium-ion batteries

In this work, we have developed a mild route to fabricate typically mesoporous Mo2C-C hybrid nanospheres based on a solvothermal synthesis and reduction-carbonization process. This work opens a low-temperature route to synthesize valuable carbides. The resultant Mo2C-C hybrid, for the first time, is used as an anode material in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Compared with bulk Mo2C, the Mo2C-C hybrid exhibits much better electrochemical performance. Remarkably, the hybrid electrode can deliver a specific capacity of over 670 mA h g(-1) after 50 cycles at 100 mA g(-1), which is much higher than that of the bulk material (113 mA h g(-1)). Even cycled at a high current density of 1000 mA g(-1), high capacities of around 400-470 mA h g(-1) can still be retained for the Mo2C-C hybrid. It might benefit from the synergistic effect of the nanohybridization, effectively relieving the volume change during the repeated lithium insertion-extraction reactions and maintaining the integrity of the electrical connections. It is expected that the present synthesis strategy for the Mo2C-C hybrid can be extended to other nanostructured carbides with good energy storage performance.