Two Birds with One Stone: Bimetallic Znco2s4 Polyhedral Nanoparticles Decorate Porous N-Doped Carbon Nanofiber Membranes for Free-Standing Flexible Anodes and Microwave Absorption

Abstract

Cost-efficient material with an ingenious design is important in the engineering applications of flexible energy storage and electromagnetic (EM) protection. In this study, bimetallic ZnCo2S4 polyhedral nanoparticles homogenously embedded in the surface of porous N-doped carbon nanofiber membranes (ZCS@PCNFM) have been fabricated by electrospinning technique combined with carbonization and hydrothermal processes. As a self-assembled electrode for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), the bimetallic ZnCo2S4 nanoparticles possess rich redox reactions, good electrical conductivity, and pseudocapacitive properties, while the three-dimensional (3D) multiaperture architecture of the nanofiber film not only shortens the transfer spacing of lithium ions and electrons but also effectively tolerates the volume variation during lithiation and delithiation cycles. Benefiting from the above merits, the ZCS@PCNFM electrode exhibits good cycle performance (662.3 mA h g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 100 cycles), superior rate capacity (401.3 mA h g−1 at 1 A g−1) and an extremely high initial first capacity of 1152.2 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1. Meanwhile, depending on the hierarchical nanostructure and multi-component heterogeneous interface effects constructed by 3D inlaid architecture, the ZCS@PCNFM nanocomposite exhibits fascinating microwave absorption (MA) characteristics with a superhigh reflection loss (RL) of –49.7 dB at a filling content of only 20 wt% and corresponding effective absorption bandwidth (EAB, RL < –10 dB) of 5.2 GHz ranging from 12.8 to 18.0 GHz at 2.2 mm.

Keywords: ZnCo2S4 polyhedral nanoparticles, Binder-free electrode, Lithium-ion batteries, Porous N-doped carbon nanofiber, Electromagnetic wave absorption