WS₂ nanosheets vertically grown on Ti₃C₂ as superior anodes for lithium-ion batteries

Tungsten disulfide (WS₂) is considered as a promising anode material for high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) result from its inherent characteristics such as high theoretical capacity, large interlayer spacing and weak interlayer Van der Waals force. Nevertheless, WS₂ has the drawbacks of easy agglomeration, severe volume expansion and high Li⁺ migration barrier, which lead to rapid capacity degradation and imperfect rate ability. In this work, a novel two-dimensional (2D) hierarchical composite (Ti₃C₂/WS₂) consisting of WS₂ nanosheets vertically grown on titanium carbide (Ti₃C₂) nanosheets is prepared. Thanks to this distinctive hierarchical structure and synergy between WS₂ and Ti₃C₂, the Ti₃C₂/WS₂ composite demonstrates exceptional electrochemical performance in LIBs. In addition, we investigate the effect of the mass proportion of WS₂ in Ti₃C₂/WS₂ composite on the electrochemical performance, and find that the optimal mass ratio of WS₂ is 60%. As expected, the optimal electrode exhibits a high specific capacity (650 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g after 100 cycles) and ultra-long cycle stability (400 mAh/g at 1.0 A/g after 5000 cycles).