Bioinspired controlled synthesis of NiSe/Ni₂P nanoparticles decorated 3D porous carbon for Li/Na ion batteries

Three-dimensional (3D) porous carbon-encapsulated NiSe/Ni₂P nanoparticles (NiSe/Ni₂P/C) are synthesized via using the elastin-like polypeptides with hexahistidine tag (ELP16-His) followed by the selenization process and annealing treatment. The biochemistry-derived NiSe/Ni₂P nanoparticles (∼8 nm) have large specific surface area and are homogeneously dispersed in the 3D porous carbon matrix. It is found that the crystalline structure and morphologies of the product could be controlled with ELP16-His. As anodes in the application of lithium ion batteries (LIBs), the NiSe/Ni₂P/C presents high reversible capacities (911.3 mA h g^-1 at 100th cycle, 100 mA g^-1) and excellent rates behavior (220.7 mA h g^-1 at 10 A g^-1). In addition, high specific capacities of 353.6 mA h g^-1 (100th cycle, 100 mA g^-1) also can be achieved by NiSe/Ni₂P/C in sodium ion batteries (SIBs).