Interfacial engineering of 0D/2D SnS 2 heterostructure onto nitrogen-doped graphene for boosted lithium storage capability Dongdong Gao a,1 , Yirui Wang c,1 , Yi Liu c , Huiping Sun b , Minghong Wu b , Haijiao Zhang a,⇑ a Institute of Nanochemistry and Nanobiology, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China b School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China c Materials Genome Institute and International Centre for Quantum and Molecular Structures, Department of Physics, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, PR China graphical abstract article info Article history: Received 3 October 2018 Revised 20 November 2018 Accepted 25 November 2018 Available online 26 November 2018 Keywords: SnS 2 N-doped graphene 2D materials Interfacial engineering Lithium storage abstract The interfacial engineering plays an important role in enhancing the electrochemical properties of graphene-based hybrid materials for energy conversion and storage. Herein, we propose a facile interfa- cial engineering route for achieving a novel type of SnS 2 /N-doped graphene (SnS 2 /NG) composite with superior lithium storage capability. Interestingly, the SnS 2 particles formed show two totally different morphologies including ultrasmall nanoparticles about 5 nm and ultrathin nanosheets, and they are strongly coupled with nitrogen-doped graphene, giving rise to a unique 0D/2D heterostructure. In the process, the multiple roles of the 3-aminophenol (AP) linker are well identified by combining the exper- imental results with the theoretical calculations, where a strong interface is successfully constructed between SnS 2 and functionalized graphene. The electrochemical test results demonstrate that the as- made SnS 2 /NG composite exhibits a high lithium storage capacity (1101.3 mAh g 1 at 100 mA g 1 ), supe- rior cycling stability (a capability fading of 0.04% per cycle for 200 cycles at 100 mA g 1 ), as well as a good rate retention. Such a unique hierarchical nanostructure and the strong interfacial interaction between 0D/2D SnS 2 and nitrogen-doped graphene highlight the lithium storage performance of SnS 2 /NG. Ó 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Nowadays, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been intensively pursued as the major power supplier for all kinds of portable elec- tronic devices and electric vehicles by virtue of their high effi- ciency, large energy density, long cycle life, and environment- friendly features [1–3]. Nonetheless, the commercial graphite widely used as the LIBs anode can no longer satisfy the growing power-supply demand for rapid market development owing to its low theoretical capacity (only 372 mAh g 1 ) and poor rate capa- bility [4–6]. Therefore, many electrode materials including metals, oxides, sulfides, and carbon materials have been developed for https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2018.11.098 0021-9797/Ó 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. E-mail address: hjzhang128@shu.edu.cn (H. Zhang). 1 D.D. Gao and Y.R. Wang contributed equally to this work. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 538 (2019) 116–124 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Colloid and Interface Science journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jcis