Aqueous Zinc-Ion Storage in MoS2 by Tuning the Intercalation Energy

Hanfeng Liang, Zhen Cao, Fangwang Ming, Wenli Zhang, Dalaver H. Anjum, Yi Cui, Luigi Cavallo, Husam N. Alshareef

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

397 Scopus citations

Abstract

Aqueous Zn-ion batteries present low-cost, safe, and high-energy battery technology but suffer from the lack of suitable cathode materials because of the sluggish intercalation kinetics associated with the large size of hydrated zinc ions. Herein we report an effective and general strategy to transform inactive intercalation hosts into efficient Zn2+ storage materials through intercalation energy tuning. Using MoS2 as a model system, we show both experimentally and theoretically that even hosts with an originally poor Zn2+ diffusivity can allow fast Zn2+ diffusion. Through simple interlayer spacing and hydrophilicity engineering that can be experimentally achieved by oxygen incorporation, the Zn2+ diffusivity is boosted by 3 orders of magnitude, effectively enabling the otherwise barely active MoS2 to achieve a high capacity of 232 mAh g–1, which is 10 times that of its pristine form. The strategy developed in our work can be generally applied for enhancing the ion storage capacity of metal chalcogenides and other layered materials, making them promising cathodes for challenging multivalent ion batteries.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)3199-3206
Number of pages8
JournalNano Letters
Volume19
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 15 2019

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OSR-CRG2018-3735
Acknowledgements: The work reported in this manuscript was supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under grant number OSR-CRG2018-3735. The calculations were performed on the KAUST HPC supercomputers.

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