A surfactant-thermal method to prepare crystalline thioantimonate for high-performance lithium-ion batteries

Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have attracted great attention in various applications. However, high energy density is still a challenge for next-generation lithium ion batteries. Therefore, searching for novel electrode materials to address this issue is highly desirable. In this report, we employed a surfactant-thermal method to prepare a novel 1D crystalline thioantimonate [NH(CH₃)₂][Sb₄S₅(S₃)]. After grinding for 10 min using a mortar, [NH(CH₃)₂][Sb₄S₅(S₃)] presented an ultrathin nanosheet morphology (around 20 nm in thickness and several micrometers in lateral dimension). Employed as an anode material for lithium ion batteries, the nano-sized crystalline thioantimonate shows a high reversible specific capacity of 568 mA h g⁻¹ over 50 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g⁻¹ and an excellent rate capability of 301 mA h g⁻¹ at a current density of 5 A g⁻¹. Our research suggests that crystalline thioantimonate could have great potential applications in high performance Li-ion batteries.