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.