Ultrasmall Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles/MoS₂ nanosheets composite as high-performance anode material for lithium ion batteries

Coupling ultrasmall Fe₂O₃ particles (~4.0 nm) with the MoS₂ nanosheets is achieved by a facile method for high-performance anode material for Li-ion battery. MoS₂ nanosheets in the composite can serve as scaffolds, efficiently buffering the large volume change of Fe₂O₃ during charge/discharge process, whereas the ultrasmall Fe₂O₃ nanoparticles mainly provide the specific capacity. Due to bigger surface area and larger pore volume as well as strong coupling between Fe₂O₃ particles and MoS₂ nanosheets, the composite exhibits superior electrochemical properties to MoS₂, Fe₂O₃ and the physical mixture Fe₂O₃+MoS₂. Typically, after 140 cycles the reversible capacity of the composite does not decay, but increases from 829 mA h g^-1 to 864 mA h g^-1 at a high current density of 2 A g^-1. Thus, the present facile strategy could open a way for development of cost-efficient anode material with high-performance for large-scale energy conversion and storage systems.