Self-assembled molybdenum disulfide nanoflowers regulated by lithium sulfate for high performance supercapacitors

Recently, molybdenum disulfide (MoS(2)) has been extensively investigated as a promising pseudocapacitor electrode material. However, MoS(2) usually exhibits inferior rate capability and cyclability, which restrain its practical application in energy storage. In this work, MoS(2) nanoflowers regulated by Li(2)SO(4) (L-MoS(2)) are successfully fabricated via intercalating solvated Li ions. Via appropriate intercalation of Li(2)SO(4), MoS(2) nanosheets could self-assemble to form L-MoS(2) nanoflowers with an interlayer spacing of 0.65 nm. Due to the large specific surface area (23.7 m(2) g(−1)) and high 1T phase content (77.5%), L-MoS(2) as supercapacitor electrode delivers a maximum specific capacitance of 356.7 F g(−1) at 1 A g(−1) and maintains 49.8% of capacitance retention at 20 A g(−1). Moreover, the assembled L-MoS(2) symmetric supercapacitor (SSC) device displays an energy density of 6.5 W h kg(−1) and 79.6% of capacitance retention after 3000 cycles.