Preparation of yolk-shell MoS2 nanospheres covered with carbon shell for excellent lithium-ion battery anodes

Abstract Molybdenum disulfide is regarded as one of the most promising electrode materials for high performance lithium-ion batteries. Designing firm basal structure is a key point to fully utilize the high capacity of layered MoS2 nanomaterials. Here, yolk-shell structured MoS2 nanospheres is firstly designed and fabricated to meet this needs. This unique yolk-shell nanospheres are transformed from solid nanospheres by a simply weak alkaline etching method. Then, the yolk-shell MoS2/C is synthesized by a facile process to protect the outside MoS2 shell and promote the conductivity. Taking advantages of high capacity and well-defined cavity space, allowing the core MoS2 to expand freely without breaking the outer shells, yolk-shell MoS2/C nanospheres delivers long cycle life (94% of capacity retained after 200 cycles) and high rate behaviour (830 mA h g−1 at 5 A g−1). This design of yolk-shell structure may set up a new strategy for preparing next generation anode materials for LIBs.