Amorphous MoS₃ as the sulfur-equivalent cathode material for room-temperature Li-S and Na-S batteries

Many problems associated with Li-S and Na-S batteries essentially root in the generation of their soluble polysulfide intermediates. While conventional wisdom mainly focuses on trapping polysulfides at the cathode using various functional materials, few strategies are available at present to fully resolve or circumvent this long-standing issue. In this study, we propose the concept of sulfur-equivalent cathode materials, and demonstrate the great potential of amorphous MoS₃ as such a material for room-temperature Li-S and Na-S batteries. In Li-S batteries, MoS₃ exhibits sulfur-like behavior with large reversible specific capacity, excellent cycle life, and the possibility to achieve high areal capacity. Most remarkably, it is also fully cyclable in the carbonate electrolyte under a relatively high temperature of 55 °C. MoS₃ can also be used as the cathode material of even more challenging Na-S batteries to enable decent capacity and good cycle life. Operando X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) experiments are carried out to track the structural evolution of MoS₃ It largely preserves its chain-like structure during repetitive battery cycling without generating any free polysulfide intermediates.