Pillared Vanadium Molybdenum Disulfide Nanosheets: Toward High-Performance Cathodes for Magnesium-Ion Batteries

If magnesium-ion batteries (MIBs) are to be seriously considered for next-generation energy storage, then a number of major obstacles need to be overcome. The lack of reversible cathode materials with sufficient capacity and cycle life is one of these challenges. Here, we report a new MIB cathode constructed of vertically stacked vanadium molybdenum sulfide (VMS) nanosheets toward addressing this challenge. The integration of vanadium within molybdenum sulfide nanostructures acts so as to improve the total conductivity, enhancing charge transfer, and to produce abundant lattice defects, improving both the accommodation and transport of Mg²⁺. Additionally, electrolyte additive-induced interlayer expansion provides a means to admit Mg²⁺ cations into the electrode structure and thus enhance their diffusion. The VMS nanosheets are capable of exhibiting capacities of 211.3 and 128.2 mA h g^-1 at current densities of 100 and 1000 mA g^-1, respectively. The VMS nanosheets also demonstrate long-term cycling stability, retaining 82.7% of the maximum capacity after 500 cycles at a current density of 1000 mA h g^-1. These results suggest that VMS nanosheets could be promising candidates for high-performance cathodes in MIBs.