Template-assisted hydrothermal synthesized hydrophilic spherical 1T-MoS2 with excellent zinc storage performance

Abstract In recent years, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) with sandwich structure has been widely studied as cathode material of aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ARZIBs), but inherent low capacity and short cycle life limit its further development. Here, we synthesized a novel hydrophilic spherical 1T-MoS2 through hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) template-assisted hydrothermal reaction as cathode materials for ARZIBs and systematically study its mechanism of electrochemical enhancement. The results suggest that stable spherical MoS2 was prepared by in-situ reduction of molybdate ion under the electrostatic absorption of CTAB template and O element introduced by ethylene glycol (oil-phase solvent) not only increases the hydrophilicity of the material and facilitates the intercalation of ammonium ions and water molecules, but also promotes the formation of the 1 T phase by changing the electronic structure. Consequently, this modified electrode exhibits a reversible capacity of 110 mAh g-1 at the current density of 1.0 A g-1, and the capacity retention rate is up to 90% after 500 cycles, showing excellent cycling stability and rate performance.