Molybdenum Atom Engineered Vanadium Disulfide for Boosted High-Capacity Li-Ion Storage

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) suffer from unstable lithium storage, limiting electrochemical performance.
• Improving electrode materials' functionality and Li-ion transport is crucial for high-capacity LIBs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance electrochemical functionality and Li-ion transport kinetics of electrode materials for LIBs.
• To investigate the effect of molybdenum (Mo) atom doping in vanadium disulfide (VS2) for improved lithium storage.

Main Methods:

• Atom engineering by doping Mo atoms into VS2.
• Operando and ex situ monitoring techniques.
• Theoretical simulations.
• Electrochemical performance testing of Mo-VS2 cathodes.

Main Results:

• 5.0% Mo doping in VS2 expanded interplanar spacing and lowered Li-ion diffusion barriers.
• Enhanced Li-ion adsorption and increased electron conductivity were observed.
• The optimized 5.0% Mo-VS2 cathode achieved a specific capacity of 260.8 mAh g-1 at 1.0 A g-1.
• Demonstrated a low capacity decay rate of 0.009% per cycle over 500 cycles, approximately 1.5 times better than bare VS2.

Conclusions:

• Mo atom doping effectively guides Li-ion storage in VS2.
• This strategy opens new avenues for developing high-performance transition metal dichalcogenides for LIBs.