Skip to main content
Log in

Solvent-free nanocasting toward universal synthesis of ordered mesoporous transition metal sulfide@N-doped carbon composites for electrochemical applications

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Nano Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Transition metal sulfides (TMSs) have a wide range of applications owing to their intriguing properties. Significant efforts have been devoted to nanostructuring TMSs to enhance their properties and performance, still there is a high need in general synthesis of TMS nanostructures. Herein, for the first time, a simple solvent free reactive nanocasting approach that integrates solid precursor loading, in-situ sulfuration and carbonization into a single heating step is developed for the universal synthesis of ordered mesoporous TMS@N-doped carbon composites (denoted as OM-TMS@NCs) with methionine (Met) and metal chlorides as the precursors and the mesoporous silica (SBA-15) as the hard template. A series of OM-TMS@NCs with a hexagonal mesostructure, ultra-high surface areas (430–754 m2·g−1), large pore volumes (0.85–1.32 cm3·g−1), and unique TMS stoichiometries, including MoS2, Fe7S8, Co9S8, NiS, Cu7S4 and ZnS, are obtained. Two distinct structure configurations, namely, highly dispersed ultrathin TMS nanosheets within NCs and TMS@NC co-nanowire arrays, can be obtained depending on different metals. The structure evolution of the OM-TMS@NCs over the solvent-free nanocasting process is studied in detail for a deep understanding of the synthesis. As demonstrations, these materials are promising for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction and lithium ion storage with high performances.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Lai, C. H.; Lu, M. Y.; Chen, L. J. Metal sulfide nanostructures: Synthesis, properties and applications in energy conversion and storage. J. Mater. Chem. 2012, 22, 19–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Chang, K.; Hai, X.; Ye, J. H. Transition metal disulfides as noble-metalalternative co-catalysts for solar hydrogen production. Adv. Energy Mater. 2016, 6, 1502555.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Beinert, H.; Holm, R. H.; Munck, E. Iron-sulfur clusters: Nature’s modular, multipurpose structures. Science 1997, 277, 653–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Harris, S.; Chianelli, R. R. Catalysis by transition metal sulfides: The relation between calculated electronic trends and HDS activity. J. Catal. 1984, 86, 400–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Gao, M. R.; Xu, Y. F.; Jiang, J.; Yu, S. H. Nanostructured metal chalcogenides: Synthesis, modification, and applications in energy conversion and storage devices. Chem. Soc. Rev. 2013, 42, 2986–3017.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Kong, D. S.; Cha, J. J.; Wang, H. T.; Lee, H. R.; Cui, Y. First-row transition metal dichalcogenide catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. Energy Environ. Sci. 2013, 6, 3553–3558.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Luo, W. Q.; Shi, H.; Schachtl, E.; Gutierrez, O. Y.; Lercher, J. A. Active sites on nickel-promoted transition-metal sulfides that catalyze hydrogenation of aromatic compounds. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2018, 57, 14555–14559.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Mahmood, N.; Zhang, C. Z.; Hou, Y. L. Nickel sulfide/nitrogen-doped graphene composites: Phase-controlled synthesis and high performance anode materials for lithium ion batteries. Small 2013, 9, 1321–1328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Feng, L. L.; Li, G. D.; Liu, Y. P.; Wu, Y. Y.; Chen, H.; Wang, Y.; Zou, Y. C.; Wang, D. J.; Zou, X. X. Carbon-armored Co9S8 nanoparticles as all-pH efficient and durable H2-evolving electrocatalysts. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2015, 7, 980–988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yuan, Z.; Peng, H. J.; Hou, T. Z.; Huang, J. Q.; Chen, C. M.; Wang, D. W.; Cheng, X. B.; Wei, F.; Zhang, Q. Powering lithium-sulfur battery performance by propelling polysulfide redox at sulfiphilic hosts. Nano Lett. 2016, 16, 519–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Xia, X. H.; Zhu, C. R.; Luo, J. S.; Zeng, Z. Y.; Guan, C.; Ng, C. F.; Zhang, H.; Fan, H. J. Synthesis of free-standing metal sulfide nanoarrays via anion exchange reaction and their electrochemical energy storage application. Small 2014, 10, 766–773.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Zhou, J. H.; Wang, L.; Yang, M. Y.; Wu, J. H.; Chen, F. J.; Huang, W. J.; Han, N.; Ye, H. L.; Zhao, F. P.; Li, Y. Y. et al. Hierarchical VS2 nanosheet assemblies: A universal host material for the reversible storage of alkali metal ions. Adv. Mater. 2017, 29, 1702061.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Lu, Q. P.; Yu, Y. F.; Ma, Q. L.; Chen, B.; Zhang, H. 2D transitionmetal-dichalcogenide-nanosheet-based composites for photocatalytic and electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reactions. Adv. Mater. 2016, 28, 1917–1933.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Voiry, D.; Salehi, M.; Silva, R.; Fujita, T.; Chen, M. W.; Asefa, T.; Shenoy, V. B.; Eda, G.; Chhowalla, M. Conducting MoS2 nanosheets as catalysts for hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Lett. 2013, 13, 6222–6227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Chen, J. S.; Guan, C.; Gui, Y.; Blackwood, D. J. Rational design of selfsupported Ni3S2 nanosheets array for advanced asymmetric supercapacitor with a superior energy density. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2017, 9, 496–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Huang, K. J.; Zhang, J. Z.; Shi, G. W.; Liu, Y. M. Hydrothermal synthesis of molybdenum disulfide nanosheets as supercapacitors electrode material. Electrochim. Acta 2014, 132, 397–403.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhou, Y. L.; Yan, D.; Xu, H. Y.; Feng, J. K.; Jiang, X. L.; Yue, J.; Yang, J.; Qian, Y. T. Hollow nanospheres of mesoporous Co9S8 as a high-capacity and long-life anode for advanced lithium ion batteries. Nano Energy 2015, 12, 528–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Peng, S. J.; Li, L. L.; Tan, H. T.; Cai, R.; Shi, W. H.; Li, C. C.; Mhaisalkar, S. G.; Srinivasan, M.; Ramakrishna, S.; Yan, Q. Y. MS2 (M = Co and Ni) hollow spheres with tunable interiors for high-performance supercapacitors and photovoltaics. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2014, 24, 2155–2162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Cheng, Z. G.; Wang, S. Z.; Si, D. J.; Geng, B. Y. Controlled synthesis of copper sulfide 3D nanoarchitectures through a facile hydrothermal route. J. Alloys Compd. 2010, 492, L44–L49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Yu, X. Y.; Yu, L.; Shen, L. F.; Song, X. H.; Chen, H. Y.; Lou, X. W. General formation of MS (M = Ni, Cu, Mn) box-in-box hollow structures with enhanced pseudocapacitive properties. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2014, 24, 7440–7446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Chen, T.; Zhang, Z. W.; Cheng, B. R.; Chen, R. P.; Hu, Y.; Ma, L. B.; Zhu, G. Y.; Liu, J.; Jin, Z. Self-templated formation of interlaced carbon nanotubes threaded hollow Co3S4 nanoboxes for high-rate and heat-resistant lithium–sulfur batteries. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 12710–12715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Li, D. J.; Maiti, U. N.; Lim, J.; Choi, D. S.; Lee, W. J.; Oh, Y.; Lee, G. Y.; Kim, S. O. Molybdenum sulfide/N-doped CNT forest hybrid catalysts for high-performance hydrogen evolution reaction. Nano Lett. 2014, 14, 1228–1233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Liao, L.; Zhu, J.; Bian, X. J.; Zhu, L. N.; Scanlon, M. D.; Girault, H. H.; Liu, B. H. MoS2 formed on mesoporous graphene as a highly active catalyst for hydrogen evolution. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2013, 23, 5326–5333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wang, Q. F.; Zou, R. Q.; Xia, W.; Ma, J.; Qiu, B.; Mahmood, A.; Zhao, R.; Yang, Y. Y. C.; Xia, D. G.; Xu, Q. Facile synthesis of ultrasmall CoS2 nanoparticles within thin N-doped porous carbon shell for high performance lithium-ion batteries. Small 2015, 11, 2511–2517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Yonemoto, B. T.; Hutchings, G. S.; Jiao, F. A general synthetic approach for ordered mesoporous metal sulfides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 8895–8898.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Luc, W.; Jiao, F. Synthesis of nanoporous metals, oxides, carbides, and sulfides: Beyond nanocasting. Acc. Chem. Res. 2016, 49, 1351–1358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Miao, R.; Dutta, B.; Sahoo, S.; He, J. K.; Zhong, W.; Cetegen, S. A.; Jiang, T.; Alpay, S. P.; Suib, S. L. Mesoporous iron sulfide for highly efficient electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 13604–13607.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Kibsgaard, J.; Chen, Z. B.; Reinecke, B. N.; Jaramillo, T. F. Engineering the surface structure of MoS2 to preferentially expose active edge sites for electrocatalysis. Nat. Mater. 2012, 11, 963–969.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Shi, Y. F.; Wan, Y.; Liu, R. L.; Tu, B.; Zhao, D. Y. Synthesis of highly ordered mesoporous crystalline WS2 and MoS2 via a high-temperature reductive sulfuration route. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2007, 129, 9522–9531.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Chen, X. H.; Fan, R. Low-temperature hydrothermal synthesis of transition metal dichalcogenides. Chem. Mater. 2001, 13, 802–805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Bao, S. J.; Li, C. M.; Guo, C. X.; Qiao, Y. Biomolecule-assisted synthesis of cobalt sulfide nanowires for application in supercapacitors. J. Power Sources 2008, 180, 676–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Dunne, P. W.; Starkey, C. L.; Gimeno-Fabra, M.; Lester, E. H. The rapid size- and shape-controlled continuous hydrothermal synthesis of metal sulphide nanomaterials. Nanoscale 2014, 6, 2406–2418.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Lu, A. H.; Schüth, F. Nanocasting: A versatile strategy for creating nanostructured porous materials. Adv. Mater. 2006, 18, 1793–1805.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Yang, H. F.; Zhao, D. Y. Synthesis of replica mesostructures by the nanocasting strategy. J. Mater. Chem. 2005, 15, 1217–1231.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Du, N.; Zhang, H.; Chen, J. E.; Sun, J. Y.; Chen, B. D.; Yang, D. R. Metal oxide and sulfide hollow spheres: Layer-by-layer synthesis and their application in lithium-ion battery. J. Phys. Chem. B 2008, 112, 14836–14842.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Luo, M.; Liu, Y.; Hu, J. C.; Li, J. L.; Liu, J.; Richards, R. M. General strategy for one-pot synthesis of metal sulfide hollow spheres with enhanced photocatalytic activity. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 2012, 125, 180–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Dolui, K.; Rungger, I.; Sanvito, S. Origin of the n-type and p-type conductivity of MoS2 monolayers on a SiO2 substrate. Phys. Rev. B 2013, 87, 165402.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Kwok, K. M.; Ong, S. W. D.; Chen, L. W.; Zeng, H. C. Constrained growth of MoS2 nanosheets within a mesoporous silica shell and its effects on defect sites and catalyst stability for H2S decomposition. ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 714–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Bergwerff, J. A.; Jansen, M.; Leliveld, B. G.; Visser, T.; de Jong, K. P.; Weckhuysen, B. M. Influence of the preparation method on the hydrotreating activity of MoS2/Al2O3 extrudates: A Raman microspectroscopy study on the genesis of the active phase. J. Catal. 2006, 243, 292–302.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Lee, J. J.; Kim, H.; Moon, S. H. Preparation of highly loaded, dispersed MoS2/Al2O3 catalysts for the deep hydrodesulfurization of dibenzothiophenes. Appl. Catal. B Environ. 2003, 41, 171–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Youn, D. H.; Han, S.; Kim, J. Y.; Kim, J. Y.; Park, H.; Choi, S. H.; Lee, J. S. Highly active and stable hydrogen evolution electrocatalysts based on molybdenum compounds on carbon nanotube-graphene hybrid support. ACS Nano 2014, 8, 5164–5173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Lei, T. Y.; Chen, W.; Huang, J. W.; Yan, C. Y.; Sun, H. X.; Wang, C.; Zhang, W. L.; Li, Y. R.; Xiong, J. Multi-functional layered WS2 nanosheets for enhancing the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries. Adv. Energy Mater. 2017, 7, 1601843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Wu, C.; Maier, J.; Yu, Y. Generalizable synthesis of metal-sulfides/carbon hybrids with multiscale, hierarchically ordered structures as advanced electrodes for lithium storage. Adv. Mater. 2016, 28, 174–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. Han, C.; Li, Q.; Wang, D. W.; Lu, Q. Q.; Xing, Z. C.; Yang, X. R. Cobalt sulfide nanowires core encapsulated by a N, S codoped graphitic carbon shell for efficient oxygen reduction reaction. Small 2018, 14, 1703642.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Xiong, Q. Z.; Wang, Y.; Liu, P. F.; Zheng, L. R.; Wang, G. Z.; Yang, H. G.; Wong, P. K.; Zhang, H. M.; Zhao, H. J. Cobalt covalent doping in MoS2 to induce bifunctionality of overall water splitting. Adv. Mater. 2018, 30, 1801450.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  46. Zhang, X. E.; Zhao, R. F.; Wu, Q. H.; Li, W. L.; Shen, C.; Ni, L. B.; Yan, H.; Diao, G. W.; Chen, M. Petal-like MoS2 nanosheets space-confined in hollow mesoporous carbon spheres for enhanced lithium storage performance. ACS Nano 2017, 11, 8429–8436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Ye, C.; Zhang, L.; Guo, C. X.; Li, D. D.; Vasileff, A.; Wang, H. H.; Qiao, S. Z. A 3D hybrid of chemically coupled nickel sulfide and hollow carbon spheres for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2017, 27, 1702524.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Li, Y. G.; Wang, H. L.; Xie, L. M.; Liang, Y. Y.; Hong, G. S.; Dai, H. J. MoS2 nanoparticles grown on graphene: An advanced catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 7296–7299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Chen, B.; Meng, Y. H.; He, F.; Liu, E. Z.; Shi, C. S.; He, C. N.; Ma, L. Y.; Li, Q. Y.; Li, J. J.; Zhao, N. Q. Thermal decomposition-reduced layer-by-layer nitrogen-doped graphene/MoS2/nitrogen-doped graphene heterostructure for promising lithium-ion batteries. Nano Energy 2017, 41, 154–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Wang, Y. M.; Wu, Z. Y.; Shi, L. Y.; Zhu, J. H. Rapid functionalization of mesoporous materials: Directly dispersing metal oxides into as-prepared SBA-15 occluded with template. Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 323–327.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Wang, Y. M.; Wu, Z. Y.; Wang, H. J.; Zhu, J. H. Fabrication of metal oxides occluded in ordered mesoporous hosts via a solid-state grinding route: The influence of host–guest interactions. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2006, 16, 2374–2386.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. Gao, X. M.; Chen, Z.; Yao, Y.; Zhou, M. Y.; Liu, Y.; Wang, J. X.; Wu, W. D.; Chen, X. D.; Wu, Z. X.; Zhao, D. Y. Direct heating amino acids with silica: A universal solvent-free assembly approach to highly nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon materials. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2016, 26, 6649–6661.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. Matte, H. S. S. R.; Gomathi, A.; Manna, A. K.; Late, D. J.; Datta, R.; Pati, S. K.; Rao, C. N. R. MoS2 and WS2 analogues of graphene. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2010, 49, 4059–4062.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  54. Liu, K. K.; Zhang, W. J.; Lee, Y. H.; Lin, Y. C.; Chang, M. T.; Su, C. Y.; Chang, C. S.; Li, H.; Shi, Y. M.; Zhang, H. et al. Growth of large-area and highly crystalline MoS2 thin layers on insulating substrates. Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 1538–1544.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Zhao, D. Y.; Feng, J. L.; Huo, Q. S.; Melosh, N.; Fredrickson, G. H.; Chmelka, B. F.; Stucky, G. D. Triblock copolymer syntheses of mesoporous silica with periodic 50 to 300 angstrom pores. Science 1998, 279, 548–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  56. Zhao, D. Y.; Huo, Q. S.; Feng, J. L.; Chmelka, B. F.; Stucky, G. D. Nonionic triblock and star diblock copolymer and oligomeric surfactant syntheses of highly ordered, hydrothermally stable, mesoporous silica structures. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1998, 120, 6024–6036.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Yin, Y.; Han, J. C.; Zhang, Y. M.; Zhang, X. H.; Xu, P.; Yuan, Q.; Samad, L.; Wang, X. J.; Wang, Y.; Zhang, Z. H. et al. Contributions of phase, sulfur vacancies, and edges to the hydrogen evolution reaction catalytic activity of porous molybdenum disulfide nanosheets. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138, 7965–7972.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Sui, C. X.; Chen, K.; Zhao, L. M.; Zhou, L.; Wang, Q. Q. MoS2-modified porous gas diffusion layer with air-solid-liquid interface for efficient electrocatalytic water splitting. Nanoscale 2018, 10, 15324–15331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Guo, B. J.; Yu, K.; Li, H. L.; Song, H. L.; Zhang, Y. Y.; Lei, X.; Fu, H.; Tan, Y. H.; Zhu, Z. Q. Hollow structured micro/nano MoS2 spheres for high electrocatalytic activity hydrogen evolution reaction. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2016, 8, 5517–5525.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Morales-Guio, C. G.; Hu, X. L. Amorphous molybdenum sulfides as hydrogen evolution catalysts. Acc. Chem. Res. 2014, 47, 2671–2681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Ding, J. B.; Zhou, Y.; Li, Y. G.; Guo, S. J.; Huang, X. Q. MoS2 nanosheet assembling superstructure with a three-dimensional ion accessible site: A new class of bifunctional materials for batteries and electrocatalysis. Chem. Mater. 2016, 28, 2074–2080.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Zhang, L.; Liu, P. F.; Li, Y. H.; Wang, C. W.; Zu, M. Y.; Fu, H. Q.; Yang, X. H.; Yang, H. G. Accelerating neutral hydrogen evolution with tungsten modulated amorphous metal hydroxides. ACS Catal. 2018, 8, 5200–5205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Financial supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21875153 and 21501125), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (No. BK20150312), the Suzhou Bureau of Science and Technology (No. SYG201637) are much appreciated. We also thank the Young Thousand Talented Program (2015) of China, the Priority Academic Program Development (PAPD) of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions and the Project of Scientific and Technologic Infrastructure of Suzhou (No. SZS201708) for supports. Z. X. W. acknowledges the start-up fund from Soochow University. Y. G. L. acknowledge the support from the PAPD of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology. We greatly appreciate Professor Dongyuan Zhao and Professor Biao Kong in Fudan University for insightful discussions on the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanguang Li or Zhangxiong Wu.

Electronic supplementary material

12274_2019_2299_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Solvent-free nanocasting toward universal synthesis of ordered mesoporous transition metal sulfide@N-doped carbon composites for electrochemical applications

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhu, J., Chen, Z., Jia, L. et al. Solvent-free nanocasting toward universal synthesis of ordered mesoporous transition metal sulfide@N-doped carbon composites for electrochemical applications. Nano Res. 12, 2250–2258 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2299-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2299-8

Keywords

Navigation