Molecular Connectors Boosting the Performance of MoS 2 Cathodes in Zinc-Ion Batteries

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 20; no. 29; p. e2310338
• Main Authors: Guo, Haipeng, Montes-García, Verónica, Peng, Haijun, Samorì, Paolo, Ciesielski, Artur
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley-VCH Verlag 27-02-2024
• Subjects: Engineering Sciences; Micro and nanotechnologies; Microelectronics; zinc ion batteries; electrochemical reaction mechanism; molecular strategy; MoS2
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202310338

Zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) are promising energy storage systems due to high energy density, low-cost, and abundant availability of zinc as a raw material. However, the greatest challenge in ZIBs research is lack of suitable cathode materials that can reversibly intercalate Zn
ions. 2D layered materials, especially MoS
-based, attract tremendous interest due to large surface area and ability to intercalate/deintercalate ions. Unfortunately, pristine MoS
obtained by traditional protocols such as chemical exfoliation or hydrothermal/solvothermal methods exhibits limited electronic conductivity and poor chemical stability upon charge/discharge cycling. Here, a novel molecular strategy to boost the electrochemical performance of MoS
cathode materials for aqueous ZIBs is reported. The use of dithiolated conjugated molecular pillars, that is, 4,4'-biphenyldithiols, enables to heal defects and crosslink the MoS
nanosheets, yielding covalently bridged networks (MoS
-SH2) with improved ionic and electronic conductivity and electrochemical performance. In particular, MoS
-SH2 electrodes display high specific capacity of 271.3 mAh g
at 0.1 A g
, high energy density of 279 Wh kg
, and high power density of 12.3 kW kg
. With its outstanding rate capability (capacity of 148.1 mAh g
at 10 A g
) and stability (capacity of 179 mAh g
after 1000 cycles), MoS
-SH2 electrodes outperform other MoS
-based electrodes in ZIBs.