A facile ex situ strategy of α-MnS nanoparticles anchored on holey graphene as high-performance anode for lithium-ion batteries

Highlights: • A facile ex situ strategy was used to integrate MnS with holey graphene (hG). • The pores on the hG can reduce the tortuosity of ion diffusion pathway. • The hG can protect MnS from aggregation and buffer volume change after cycling. • High capacitive contribution (94.4%) generates excellent high-rate capability. Manganese sulfide (MnS) has been considered as a potential anode material for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to its high theoretical capacity and outstanding electrochemical activity. However, low electronic conductivity and severe volume change of MnS upon lithiation/delithiation hinder its application. Herein, we demonstrate a high conductivity and self-confined MnS composites with holey graphene (hG) sheets (MnS@hG) using ex situ strategy. The MnS@hG anode delivers a high capacity of 870.5 mAh g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹ after 200 cycles. It also presents a remarkable rate capability of 336 mAh g⁻¹ at the current density up to 5000 mA g⁻¹. The excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the in-plane pores of the hG, which can reduce the tortuosity of ion diffusion pathway. Compared with graphene, the hG provides more oxygen-containing functional groups that can tightly integrate with the MnS to restrict its volume expansion after cycling. Profiting from these merits, hG can be regarded as a competitive substitution for graphene to combine with MnS as an advanced anode material. This facile ex situ strategy of constructing hG-based composites paves a way for alternative promising electroactive materials in energy storage applications.