Formation of hollow MoS2/carbon microspheres for high capacity and high rate reversible alkali-ion storage

Abstract

© 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Nanocomposites of carbon and molybdenum disulfide have attracted much attention due to their significant potential in energy conversion and storage applications. However, the preparation of these 0-D MoS 2 /carbon composites with controllable structures and desirable properties remains a major manufacturing challenge, particularly at low cost suitable for scaling-up. Here, we report a facile solution-based method to prepare porous hierarchical 0-D MoS 2 /carbon nanocomposites with vertical MoS 2 growth on a hollow carbon support, suitable for the electrochemical storage of lithium and sodium ions. The vertically aligned MoS 2 /hollow carbon material shows excellent performance in the storage of a series of alkali-metal ions (e.g. Li + , Na + , and K + ) with high capacity, excellent rate capacity, and stable cyclability. When used for the storage of Li + ions, it possesses a high capacity of over 800 mA h g -1 at a rate of 100 mA g -1 , with a negligibly small capacity decay as low as 0.019% per cycle. At a substantially higher rate of 5 A g -1 , this MoS 2 /carbon nanocomposite still delivers a capacity of over 540 mA h g -1 , showing its excellent performance at high rates. Remarkably, this material uniquely delivers high capacities of over 450 mA h g -1 and 300 mA h g -1 for Na + and K + ion storage, respectively, which are among the highest values reported to date in the literature. These excellent characteristics confirm the hollow MoS 2 /carbon nanocomposites to be a primary contender for next generation secondary batteries.