Growth of MoS2@C nanobowls as a lithium-ion battery anode material

Layered MoS2 has attracted much attention as a promising anode material for lithium ion batteries. The intrinsically poor electrical/ionic conductivity, volume expansion and pulverization, stress accumulation and unstable solid-electrolyte interface formation within MoS2 electrodes during the lithiation-delithiation process significantly result in their fast capacity fading, poor rate capability and cycle life. To address these critical issues, a novel nanobowl structure for MoS2 with a carbon coating (MoS2@C-400, 500, 600) is successfully fabricated by a facile solvothermal method, followed by a post-annealing process. The fabricated MoS2@C-600 and MoS2@C-500 exhibited high reversible capacities of 1164.4 and 1076.4 mA h g(-1) at 0.2C, and maintained high capacity retention of 72.1% and 78.4% over 150 cycles, respectively. Such remarkable lithium storage properties are attributed to the unique nanobowl structure, which provides a large accessible surface area and high pore volume, and flexible carbon film coating, allowing for easy diffusion of electrolyte, alleviation of volume expansion, formation of stable solid electrolyte interfaces and fast diffusion of lithium ions.