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Hollow MoS 3 Nanospheres as Electrode Material for “Water‐in‐Salt” Li–Ion Batteries
Author(s) -
Quan Ting,
Xu Yaolin,
Tovar Michael,
GoubardBretesché Nicolas,
Li Zhaolong,
Kochovski Zdravko,
Kirmse Holm,
Skrodczky Kai,
Mei Shilin,
Yu Hongtao,
AbouRas Daniel,
Wagemaker Marnix,
Lu Yan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
batteries and supercaps
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2566-6223
DOI - 10.1002/batt.202000042
Subject(s) - anode , materials science , amorphous solid , electrolyte , electrochemistry , aqueous solution , electrode , electrochemical window , salt (chemistry) , precipitation , ion , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , inorganic chemistry , ionic conductivity , chemistry , crystallography , physics , organic chemistry , meteorology , engineering
The use of “water‐in‐salt” electrolyte (WISE) (i. e., a highly concentrated aqueous solution) in rechargeable batteries has received increasing attention due to the significantly expanded electrochemical window compared to the limited voltage of conventional aqueous electrolytes. It enables the use of more positive/negative electrode material couples in aqueous batteries, resulting in an enhanced output voltage. However, one of the challenges is to identify promising anode materials for the “water‐in‐salt” Li‐ion batteries (WIS‐LIBs). Herein we for the first time demonstrate that MoS 3 , an amorphous chain‐like structured transitional metal trichalcogenide, is promising as anode in the WIS‐LIBs. In this work, hollow MoS 3 nanospheres were synthesized via a scalable room‐temperature acid precipitation method. When applied in WIS‐LIBs, the prepared MoS 3 achieved a high specific capacity of 127 mAh/g at the current density of 0.1 A/g and good stability over 1000 cycles. During operation, MoS 3 underwent irreversible conversion to Li 2 MoO 4 (with H 2 S and H 2 evolution) during the initial Li ion uptake, and was then converted gradually to a more stable and reversible Li x MoO y (2≤ y ≤4)) phase along cycling. Amorphous Li‐deficient Li x ‐ m MoO y /MoO z was formed upon delithiation. Nevertheless, MoS 3 outperformed MoO 3 in WIS‐LIBs, which could be accredited to its initial one‐dimensional molecular structure and the amorphous nature of the delithiated product facilitating charge transport. These results demonstrated a novel routine for synthesizing metal sulfides with hollow structures using a template‐based method and push forward the development of metal sulfides for aqueous energy storage applications.