Mechanochemical process on layered compounds MoO3 and graphite to construct heterostructure composites with efficient lithium storage performance.

This work successfully prepared homogeneous heterostructure nanocomposites comprised of few-layered MoO 3 and graphite nanosheets (MoO 3 /C) on a large scale via a ball-milling method with bulk MoO 3 and expandable graphite as raw materials. The shear and impact forces generated by the agate balls with a diameter of 2 mm can present the most ideal synergistic effect to strip the MoO 3 nanosheets from its mother body with a small size and thickness. The obtained MoO 3 nanosheets are distributed homogeneously on the surface of carbon nanosheets (<10 layers), providing many Li-storage sites and stable structure during the charging-discharging process. Hence, the obtained electrode material shows the high rate performance (817 mAh g−1@1000 mA g−1) and stable cycle performance (810 mAh g−1 after 70 cycles@200 mA g−1). More importantly, we basically understand the functional rule about the effects of the size of the agate balls on ball-milling efficiency for two kinds of layered materials. A ball-milling approach was used to in-situ peel bulk MoO 3 and expanded graphite to prepare massive homogeneously heterostructure nanocomposites comprised with few-layered MoO 3 and graphite nanosheets (MoO 3 /C) with enhanced electrochemical performance. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]