Cost-Effective 1T-MoS2 Grown on Graphite Cathode Materials for High-Temperature Rechargeable Aluminum Ion Batteries and Hydrogen Evolution in Water Splitting

Zhen Chen,Zhi-Jie Li,Swathi M Gowdru,Yu-Cheng Wu,Han-Hsuan Hsieh,Di-Yan Wang,Shivaraj B Patil,Ji-Yao An

doi:10.3390/catal11121547

Abstract

The high dependence on and high cost of lithium has led to a search for alternative materials. Aluminum ion batteries (AIBs) have gained interest due to their abundance, low cost, and high capacity. However, the use of the expensive 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EMIC) electrolyte in AIBs curtails its wide application. Recently, high-temperature batteries have also gained much attention owing to their high demand by industries. Herein, we introduce cost-effective 1T molybdenum sulfide grown on SP-1 graphite powder (1T-MoS2/SP-1) as a cathode material for high-temperature AIBs using the AlCl3-urea eutectic electrolyte (1T-MoS2/SP-1–urea system). The AIB using the 1T-MoS2/SP-1–urea system exhibited a capacity as high as 200 mAh/g with high efficiency of 99% over 100 cycles at 60 °C when cycled at the rate of 100 mA/g. However, the AIB displayed a capacity of 105 mAh/g when cycled at room temperature. The enhanced performance of the 1T-MoS2/SP-1–urea system is attributed to reduced viscosity of the AlCl3-urea eutectic electrolyte at higher temperatures with high compatibility of 1T-MoS2 with SP-1. Moreover, the electrocatalytic lithiation of 1T-MoS2 and its effect on the hydrogen evolution reaction were also investigated. We believe that our work can act as a beacon for finding alternative, cost-effective, and high-temperature batteries.

Highlights

Carbon materials were used as cathodes for Aluminum ion batteries (AIBs), and they achieved a capacity as high as 180 mAh/g using a eutectic electrolyte consisting of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EMIC) and aluminum chloride (AlCl3 ) [8,9,10,11]
We found that the AIB created based on the 1T-MoS2 /SP-1 cathode materials manifested a high capacity of 200 mAh/g and excellent stability of over 100 cycles with high Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 99% at 60 ◦ C on cycling at a current density of 100 mA/g
The results showed that 1T-MoS2 /SP-1 delivered a capacity of 105 mAh/g in the early cycles and exhibited good stability over 100 cycles when cycled at 100 mA/g

Summary

Introduction

Carbon materials were used as cathodes for AIBs, and they achieved a capacity as high as 180 mAh/g using a eutectic electrolyte consisting of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (EMIC) and aluminum chloride (AlCl3 ) [8,9,10,11]. It is still important to explore new cathode materials and suitable electrolyte systems with good stability for AIBs operated at high temperatures. To improve the performance of MoS2 for AIBs, 2H-MoS2 nanosheets were grown directly on carbon nanofibers as cathode materials, achieving a capacity of 126.6 mAh/g after 200 cycles at the current density of 100 mA/g [25].

Results

Conclusion