Synergistic Performance Boosts of Dopamine‐Derived Carbon Shell Over Bi‐metallic Sulfide: A Promising Advancement for High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes

Abstract A CoMoS composite is synthesized to combine the benefits of cobalt and molybdenum sulfides as an anodic material for advanced lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). The synthesis is accomplished using a simple two‐step hydrothermal method and the resulting CoMoS nanocomposites are subsequently encapsulated in a carbonized polydopamine shell. The synthesis procedure exploited the self‐polymerization ability of dopamine to create nitrogen‐doped carbon‐coated cobalt molybdenum sulfide, denoted as CoMoS@NC. Notably, the de‐lithiation capacity of CoMoS and CoMoS@NC is 420 and 709 mAh g⁻ 1 , respectively, even after 100 lithiation/de‐lithiation cycles at a current density of 200 mA g⁻ 1 . Furthermore, excellent capacity retention ability is observed for CoMoS@NC as it withstood 600 consecutive lithiation/de‐lithiation cycles with 94% capacity retention. Moreover, a LIB full‐cell assembly incorporating the CoMoS@NC anode and an NMC‐532 cathode is subjected to comprehensive electrochemical and practical tests to evaluate the performance of the anode. In addition, the density functional theory showcases the increased lithium adsorption for CoMoS@NC, supporting the experimental findings. Hence, the use of dopamine as a nitrogen‐doped carbon shell enhanced the performance of the CoMoS nanocomposites in experimental and theoretical tests, positioning the material as a strong candidate for LIB anode.