Ionic Liquid‐Intercalated Metallic MoS₂ as a Superior Electrode for Energy Storage Applications

Abstract The development of MoS₂ in the metallic phase (1T‐MoS₂) is of paramount interest as it exhibits superior electrochemical activities compared to its semiconducting polymorph (2H‐MoS₂). In this work, an ionic liquid (IL)‐assisted solvothermal method was employed to produce the thermodynamically metastable 1T‐MoS₂. Structural characterization of the material suggests the intercalation of the IL into MoS₂. De‐intercalation of ILs from 1T‐MoS₂ leads to the formation of 2H‐MoS₂. Carbon cloth‐supported 1T‐MoS₂(1T‐MoS₂@CC) shows higher electrocatalytic activity towards acidic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) by delivering a current density of 50 mA/cm² at an overpotential of 210 mV whereas 2H‐MoS₂@CC requires an overpotential of 260 mV to reach the same current density. In addition, the 1T‐MoS₂@CC electrode delivers a high electrochemical double‐layer storage ability compared to 2H‐MoS₂@CC in 1 M Na₂SO₄. The enhanced electrochemical activity of 1T‐MoS₂ over 2H‐MoS₂ may be due to the existence of conducting basal planes and the high interlayer spacing (about 1 nm) caused by the intercalation of ILs into the MoS₂ layers.