Hydrothermal synthesis of flower-like molybdenum disulfide microspheres and their application in electrochemical supercapacitors

Three-dimensional flower-like molybdenum disulfide microspheres composed of nanosheets were prepared by a hydrothermal method using ammonium molybdate as the molybdenum source and thiourea as the sulfur source. Structural and morphological characterizations were performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical properties of MoS(2) electrode were studied by performing cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge–discharge analysis and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). When used as an electrode material for supercapacitor, the hybrid MoS(2) showed a high specific capacity of 518.7 F g(−1) at a current density of 1 A g(−1) and 275 F g(−1) at a high discharge current density of 10 A g(−1). In addition, a symmetric supercapacitor composed of MoS(2) as positive and negative electrodes was prepared, which exhibited a high energy density of 12.46 W h kg(−1) at a power density of 70 W kg(−1) and still maintains an impressive energy density of 6.42 W h kg(−1) at a large power density of 7000 W kg(−1). The outstanding performance of the MoS(2) electrode material indicates its great potential for applications in high-performance energy storage systems.