A facile alkali metal hydroxide-assisted controlled and targeted synthesis of 1T MoS2 single-crystal nanosheets for lithium ion battery anodes

Abstract

High-quality metallic 1T phase MoS₂ single-crystal nanosheets were synthesized by a facile eco-friendly alkali metal hydroxide-assisted controlled and targeted approach via the calcination of lithium hydroxide and ammonium tetrathiomolybdate under argon atmosphere at 1000 °C. The 1T MoS₂ single-crystal nanosheets were used as lithium-ion battery anodes, exhibiting superior electrochemical performances, including long cycle life and high capacities. The first charge and discharge capacities were up to 889.1 mA h g⁻¹ and 892.5 mA h g⁻¹, respectively, giving a first cycle coulombic efficiency of 98.0%, which exceeded 99.1% in the second cycle. In the 400^th cycle, the charge and discharge capacities were 737.2 mA h g⁻¹ and 738.0 mA h g⁻¹, respectively, with 82.9% capacity retention ratio. This study not only provides a novel strategy for fabricating metallic 1T phase MoS₂, which can be used as lithium ion battery anodes but also introduces a facile eco-friendly lithium hydroxide-assisted controlled and targeted approach for different phase MoS₂ (1T and 2H). Moreover, it can be extended to other alkali metal hydroxide-assisted (NaOH and KOH) approaches for the MoS₂ preparation.