Self-Assembled Few-Layered MoS on SnO Anode for Enhancing Lithium-Ion Storage.

SnO nanoparticles (NPs) have been used as reversible high-capacity anode materials in lithium-ion batteries, with reversible capacities reaching 740 mAh·g. However, large SnO NPs do not perform well in charge-discharge cycling. In this work, we report the incorporation of MoS nanosheet (NS) layers with SnO NPs. SnO NPs of ~5 nm in diameter synthesized by a facile hydrothermal precipitation method. Meanwhile, MoS NSs of a few hundreds of nanometers to a few micrometers in lateral size were produced by top-down chemical exfoliation. The self-assembly of the MoS NS layer on the gas-liquid interface was first demonstrated to achieve up to 80% coverage of the SnO NP anode surface. The electrochemical properties of the pure SnO NPs and MoS-covered SnO NP anodes were investigated. The results showed that the SnO electrode with a single-layer MoS NS film exhibited better electrochemical performance than the pure SnO anode in lithium storage applications.