Interlayer Distance Dependency of Lithium Storage in MoS2 as Anode Material for Lithium-ion Batteries

Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as dispersant was employed to assist the hydrothermal synthesis of MoS2. The results show that the interlayer distance of the as-obtained MoS2 is smaller compared with the original MoS2 without PVP-assistance using XRD, SEM and TEM techniques for characterization. Investigations of the electrochemical performances of MoS2 with different interlayer distance as anode material for LIBs demonstrate that the specific capacity and the cycling performance of lithium storage of MoS2 is significantly dependent on the interlayer distance of MoS2, furthermore causing the different mechanism of lithium storage. This might be attributed to the varied internal resistance and Li-ion diffusion in layered MoS2 due to the different interlayer distance, which is validated from electrochemical impedance spectroscope of MoS2 electrode.