CVD growth of rhenium sulfide on carbon nanotubes as an anode for improving the performance of lithium ion batteries.

Lithium ion batteries have widely been used for electronic devices and electric vehicles. However, commercial anodes, generally graphite, have not been improved a great deal. Thus, we successfully constructed ReS/carbon nanotube (CNT) composites by a chemical vapor deposition method, which exhibit excellent electrochemical performances when serving as anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs). We confirmed that ReS crystals are grown on the surface of the CNTs by using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. As a result, the LIBs show much better long-cycle and rate performances than bare ReS and CNTs. The ReS/CNTs were assembled in coin cells CR2025, presenting a stability capacity of 488 mAh g at a rate of 5C. The anodes maintain a reversible capacity of 1050 mAh g after nearly 60 cycles at 0.2C, which indicates that it is a promising technique to improve the performance of LIBs.