Rational design of interlaced Co9S8/carbon composites from ZIF-67/cellulose nanofibers for enhanced lithium storage

Cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are used to string ZIF-67 particles and interlaced Co 9 S 8 /porous carbon composite (Co 9 S 8 /C-CNFs) is obtained via carbonization and sulphidation of ZIF-67/CNFs composites. The CNFs can effectively limit the growth of ZIF-67 particles and avoid the agglomeration and most importantly, serve as the conductive skeleton to “bridge” carbonized ZIF-67 particles after carbonization. Due to the unique structure and the improved conductivity, Co 9 S 8 /C-CNFs as anode of lithium-ion batteries exhibits enhanced electrochemical properties and the specific capacity is 700 mAh g −1 at current density of 500 mA g −1 after 150 cycles compared to that of 342 mAh g −1 for samples without CNFs incorporation. Such nanoscale design may boost to explore other nanocomposites for energy storage.