Controllable synthesis of hierarchical MoS2 nanotubes with ultra-uniform and superior storage potassium properties.

The hierarchical nanosheets and hollow structure provide excellent electrochemical stability along with sufficient surface area and ion transpotation channels. The hierarchical nanosheets and hollow structure has been demonstrated to be an effective way to elevate the storage abilities of MoS 2 materials for KIB, which not only provides sufficient void space to accommodate volume expansion, but also facilitates the potassium ion diffusion. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2) is a promising nanomaterial which has been extensively investigated in photo-/electro-catalysis, sensors, and batteries due to its excellent physical/chemical properties. In this manuscript, MoS 2 hierarchical nanotubes with hollow nanostructure are successfully synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method. SEM indicates that such MoS 2 nanotubes have perfect uniformity while TEM demonstrates the hollow structure. Specifically, the ratio of MoS 2 to the randomly produced polysulfide in the synthesized MoS 2 nanotubes is 4.29 which confirms that the synthesized MoS 2 nanotubes have quite high quality. Compared with the previous studies, our MoS 2 nanotubes show superior rate capability and cyclability (127 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1 after 100 cycles) in the potassium ion battery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]