An integrated electrode based on nanoflakes of MoS2 on carbon cloth for enhanced lithium storage

Abstract

Due to its high specific capacity (in theory), molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has been recognized as a plausible substitute in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). However, it suffers from an inferior electric conductivity and a substantial volume change during Li+ insertion/extraction. By using a facile hydrothermal method, a flexible free-standing MoS2 electrode has here been fabricated onto a carbon cloth substrate. The grafting of ultrathin MoS2 nanoflakes onto the carbon cloth framework (forming CC@MoS2), was shown to facilitate an improved electron transport, as well as an enhanced Li+ transport. As expected, the as-obtained CC@MoS2 electrode was observed to exhibit an excellent lithium storage performance. It delivers a high discharge specific capacity of 2.42 mA h cm−2 at 0.7 mA cm−2 (even after 100 cycles), which is an impressive result.