Construction of nitrogen‑sulfur co-doped porous carbon to boost, integrate Li/Na/K ion storage

Heteroatom-doped carbon materials with expanded interlayer distance show attractive charm as anodes for lithium/sodium/potassium-ion batteries, making the easier Na/K ions insertion/extraction and more Li-ions insertion/extraction during the charge-discharge process. Herein, the N/S co-doped hierarchically porous carbon (NSPC) with rational interlayer distance is successfully synthesized by heteroatom doping and metal salt strategy. As a consequence, NSPC achieves the expanded interlayer spacing, excellent electronic conductivity, and short electrolyte diffusion and ion transport pathways. For Li/Na/K-ions batteries, the developed NSPC delivers a high discharge capacity of 364 mAh g−1 for sodium-ion storage, 1220 mAh g−1 for lithium-ion storage and 278 mAh g−1 for potassium-ion storage at the current density of 0.1 A g−1, respectively. And, the NSPC maintains excellent cyclic stability over long charge/discharge cycles at large current density. The NSPC shows remarkable Li+/Na+/K+ storage performance, proving the effectiveness of the material doped design. •N/S co-doped hierarchically porous carbon (NSPC) achieves the expanded interlayer spacing.•NSPC has excellent electronic conductivity, and short electrolyte diffusion and ion transport pathways.•The NSPC shows remarkable Li+/Na+/K+ storage performance.