MS 2 (M = Co and Ni) Hollow Spheres with Tunable Interiors for High‐Performance Supercapacitors and Photovoltaics

• Published in: Advanced functional materials Vol. 24; no. 15; pp. 2155 - 2162
• Main Authors: Peng, Shengjie, Li, Linlin, Tan, Huiteng, Cai, Ren, Shi, Wenhui, Li, Chengchao, Mhaisalkar, Subodh G., Srinivasan, Madhavi, Ramakrishna, Seeram, Yan, Qingyu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.04.2014
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201303273

We demonstrate in this paper facile synthesis of CoS 2 and NiS 2 hollow spheres with various interiors through a solution‐based route. The obtained CoS 2 microspheres constructed by nanosheets display a three‐dimensional architecture with solid, yolk‐shell, double‐shell, and hollow interiors respectively, with continuous changes in specific surface areas and pore‐size distributions. Especially, the CoS 2 hollow spheres demonstrate excellent supercapacitive performance including high specific capacitance, good charge/discharge stability and long‐term cycling life, owing to the greatly improved faradaic redox reaction and mass transfer. Furthermore, CoS 2 hollow spheres exhibit superior electrocatalytic activity for disulfide/thiolate (T 2 /T − ) redox electrolyte in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Therefore, this work provides a promising approach for the design and synthesis of structure tunable materials with largely enhanced supercapacitor behavior, which can be potentially applied in energy storage devices.