Supplementary Information

Durian-like NiS2@rGO nanocomposites and their enhanced rate

performance

Wenbo Pi, Tao Mei*, Jing Li, Jianying Wang, Jinhua Li, Xianbao Wang*

* Correspondence should be addressed to Tao Mei*(E-mail: meitao@hubu.edu.cn)

Hubei Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Organic Chemical Materials,

Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of

Functional Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, School of

Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University. Wuhan 430062, PR China.

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Element (CK) NiS2@rGO-5 NiS2@rGO-10 NiS2@rGO-20 NiS2@rGO-40

Wt % 7.24 15.53 31.11 61.28

Table S1. The carbon content in each composite.

Compound and

morphologySynthetic method Cycling stability

Rate

capabilityRef

Graphene-wrapped NiS2 one-pot method 622/200/0.07C 542/1C [1]

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nanoprisms

NiS2/grapheneL –Cysteine assisted

hydrothermal method1207/120/0.1C 740/1C [2]

Porous NiS/NiDry thermal sulfuration

approach547/100/0.15C 509/1C [3]

Hierarchical MoS2 Polystyrene-templated 585/70/0.1 C 353/1 C [4]

HollowMoS2

nanoparticlesSolvothermal method 902/80/0.1C 780/1 C [5]

MoS2 /grapheneL –Cysteine assisted

hydrothermal method1100/100/0.1 C 900/1 C [6]

Mesoporous WS2

SBA-15 templated nanocasting

with vacuum assisted

impregnation

805/100/0.1 C 504/10 C [7]

ZrS2 Nanodiscs Colloidal route 586/50/0.069 C 520/0.55 C [8]

VS4 /graphene Hydrothermal method 954/100/0.1 C 766/4.5 C [9]

SnS2 nanoplates Solution phase reaction 935/30/0.2 370/5 C [10]

SnS2

nanoparticle/grapheneHydrothermal method 405/80/0.323 C 200/3.23 C [11]

SnS2

nanoparticle/grapheneHydrothermal method 577/50/0.1 C 200/1 C [12]

SnS2 /graphene

nanosheetsHydrothermal method 1114/30/0.1 C 870/1 C [13]

SnSx /graphene Hydrothermal method 860/150/0.2 C 450/2 C [14]

SnS2 /SnO2 composite Microwave-assisted reaction 522/50/0.1 C 380/1 C [15]

Durian-like NiS2/rGOEDTA-asisted hydrothermal

method1053/200/0.1C 798/1C Our work

Table S2. The comparison of sulfides on the compound and morphology, synthetic method, cycling

stability and rate capability.

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Figure S1. The EDS spectra and elemental analysis of NiS2@rGO-20.

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Figure S2. The TGA curves of NiS2@rGO and NiS2.

As it showed in Figure S2, the weight loss below 250°C was mostly ascribed to the

evaporation of adsorbed water. In Figure S2(a), a weight loss between 628 and 783 °C was

attributed to that the pristine NiS2 was oxidized into NiO [16], and in figure S2(b-e), it was

obviously that the weight loss between 250 to 610 °C was attributed to the removal of oxygen-

containing groups and the decomposition of graphene [17].

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Figure S3. (a, b) Different magnification SEM images and (c) TEM image of pristine NiS2.

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Figure S4. The SEM image of polyhedral structural NiS2 nanoparticles

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Figure S5. (a-d) The SEM images of different additive amount of 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg GO sample,

respectively. The red box in Figure S5(d) revealed the aggregation and overlap of rGO sheets caused by

excess additive amount of graphene.

When the additive amount of GO was 5 mg, there were a small number of graphene

nanosheets around NiS2 microspheres. As the additive amount of GO increased to 10 mg, more

graphene nanosheets were found in the image. As it came to 20 mg, the graphene formed three-

dimensional conductive network which was around durian-like NiS2 spheres. When the additive

amount of GO was 40 mg, the rGO showed a phenomenon of aggregation and overlap, which

represented that 40 mg was excess.

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Figure S6. The cycle lifes of NiS2@rGO-20, NiS2@rGO-20 without EDTA-2Na and Pristine NiS2 at

100 mA g-1.

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Figure S7. The different magnification SEM images of NiS2@rGO-20 after 200 cycles.

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Figure S8. The galvanostatic charge and discharge profiles of pristine NiS2 at 100 mA g-1 for different

cycles.

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Figure S9. The EIS spectra of NiS2@rGO-20 and Pristine NiS2.

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