Metallic phase MoS2 nanosheet decorated biomass carbon as sulfur hosts for advanced lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Constructing an ideal sulfur cathode host with high electronic conductivity, strong polarity, and robust porous network structure is crucial to boosting the electrochemical performance of Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries, but remains a major challenge. Herein, orientation growth of 1T MoS2 nanosheets on biomass carbon (1T MoS2@C) are successfully fabricated by solvothermal approach and then utilized as sulfur host for lithium–sulfur batteries. The structure of 1T MoS2@C composites was examined by X–ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, X–ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Nitrogen adsorption–desorption analysis etc. Results reveal that the 1T MoS2@C has a well–defined porous structure with high surface area (155.3 m2 g−1). Electrochemical measurements reveal that the 1T MoS2@C/S cathode delivers a high initial capacity of 1090.3 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C and a high–capacity retention of 735.2 mAh g−1 with capacity fade of 0.059% per cycle over 300 cycles at 1 C. This facile and cost–effective strategy for synthesising 1T MoS2@C materials provide a new avenue for the development of low–cost Li–S batteries.