Although transition-metal sulfides have emerged recently as a type of promising candidate to serve as lithium-ion battery anodes, the chemical synthesis of transition metal-sulfide materials usually involves a complex operation process and is time-consuming. The natural transition metal-sulfide minerals are potential materials for lithium-ion battery electrodes because of their abundant reserves and cost savings of the synthesis process. The synthesis of nanosized transition metal-sulfide-based materials from natural bulk minerals remains challenging. In our work, we demonstrate that a composite of ~ 10–50-nm ZnS nanoparticles that are anchored on reduced graphene-oxide nanosheets can be synthesized by using bulk natural sphalerite in a simple, rapid and pollution-free microwave shock method. As anode electrode, this composite exhibited a high reversible specific capacity (~ 611 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C), good rate performance and good cycling stability. This work provides a route for the high-value utilization of natural minerals.

中文翻译：

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由天然块状闪锌矿合成的纳米硫化锌/还原氧化石墨烯复合材料作为锂离子电池的高性能负极

尽管过渡金属硫化物最近成为一种有前途的锂离子电池负极候选材料，但过渡金属硫化物材料的化学合成通常涉及复杂的操作过程且耗时。天然过渡金属硫化物矿物储量丰富，合成过程成本低，是锂离子电池电极的潜在材料。从天然大块矿物合成纳米尺寸的过渡金属硫化物基材料仍然具有挑战性。在我们的工作中，我们证明可以通过使用块状天然闪锌矿以简单、快速和无污染的微波冲击法合成锚定在还原氧化石墨烯纳米片上的约 10-50 nm ZnS 纳米颗粒的复合材料。作为阳极，该复合材料具有高可逆比容量（0.1 C 时~611 mAh g-1）、良好的倍率性能和良好的循环稳定性。这项工作为天然矿物的高价值利用提供了途径。