Azobenzene mesogens mediated preparation of Sn S nanocrystals encapsulated with in-situ N-doped carbon and their enhanced electrochemical performance for lithium ion batteries application

In this work,azobenzene mesogen-containing tin thiolates have been synthesized,which possess ordered lamellar structures persistent to higher temperature and serve as liquid crystalline precursors.Based on the preorganized tin thiolate precursors,Sn S nanocrystals encapsulated with in-situ N-doped carbon layer have been achieved through a simple solventless pyrolysis process with the azobenzene mesogenic thiolate precursor served as Sn,S,N,and C sources simultaneously.Thus prepared nanocomposite materials as anode of lithium ion batteries present a large specific capacity of 604.6 m Ah·g^（-1）at a current density of 100 m A·g^（-1）,keeping a high capacity retention up to 96% after 80 cycles,and display high rate capability due to the synergistic effect of well-dispersed Sn S nanocrystals and N-doped carbon layer.Such encouraging results shed a light on the controlled preparation of advanced nanocomposites based on liquid crystalline metallomesogen precursors and may boost their novel intriguing applications.