Green preparation of nanostructured β-MoO3/hexagonal-shaped MoS2/graphene with enhanced lithium-ion storage performance

Metastable monoclinic molybdenum trioxide (β-MoO 3 ) combined with perfect hexagonally-shaped MoS 2 and graphene nanosheets are fabricated by facile mechanochemical-molten salt treatment of irregularly-shaped molybdenum disulfide (MoS 2 ) and graphite in air. This hybrid nanostructure exhibits an excellent Li-ion storage performance, outperforming the nanocomposites made of conventional orthorhombic α-MoO 3 . To this end, ball-milled MoS 2 and graphite are treated in the presence of sodium chloride (NaCl) at 900–1200 °C, leading to the preparation of MoS 2 /MoO x @graphene (MSO@G) nanocomposites in an easily scalable and affordable way. The formation of β-MoO 3 is realized at 1100 °C (MSO@G-1100), outperforming the electrochemical performances of other samples and the initial MoS 2 . Moreover, the influence of binder on the electrochemical performance of MSO@G-1100 is studied, based on which polystyrene acrylic-acrylate (SAE) is found to provide a considerably low charge transfer resistance (27.59 Ω), outperforming conventional binders. The electrode exhibits a reversible Li-ion storage capacity of 878 mAh g −1 after 245 cycles at the current density of 100 mA g −1 . The capacitive contribution to the total Li-ion energy storage performance of MSO@G-1100/SAE is found to be significant with the value of around 62% at the potential scan rate of 0.3 mV s −1 . This article report on the facile, clean and sustainable preparation of β-MoO 3 based nanocomposites with remarkable electrochemical performance.