Borophene as Conductive Additive to Boost the Performance of MoS2-Based Anode Materials

Abstract

Carbon-based materials, including graphene, porous carbon, and nanotubes, have been widely used as conductive additives to reduce the resistance in semiconductive anode materials of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) toward better performance and the alleviated battery overheat problem. However, these additives are usually denounced for their low lithium-ion capacity. Moreover, emergence of vacant defect and heteroatom incorporation would open a sizable energy gap accompanied by reduced conductance. Here, by selecting MoS2 as a prototype system, we proclaim the utilization of emerging borophene as the conductive additive in terms of its low ion-transport barrier and robust metallic conductivity against defects and external doping in addition to its high Li-storage capacity. We found that substantial electrons transfer from MoS2 to borophene, producing strong electronic coupling that conduces to favorable interface bonding in combination with improved Li affinity. Incorporation of borophene also compensates the ...