Oxygen-incorporated MoS 2 microspheres with tunable interiors as novel electrode materials for supercapacitors

Abstract In this work, a simple and facile one-step hydrothermal method is developed to synthesize oxygen-incorporated molybdenum disulphide (O-MoS 2 ) microspheres with tunable interiors (solid, yolk-shell and hollow microstructures) by using carbon disulfide (CS 2 ) as soft template and sulfur source simultaneously. The synthesized O-MoS 2 microspheres with enlarged interlayer spacing of ca. 9.8 A show remarkable electrochemical performances as novel electrode materials for supercapacitors (SCs). Specifically, O-MoS 2 hollow microsphere exhibits optimal electrochemical performances with a high specific capacitance of 744.2 F g −1 at a current density of 1 A g −1 and a good cycling stability with ca. 77.8% capacitance retention after 10 K continuous charge–discharge cycles at a high current density of 5 A g −1 , thus making it a promising electrode material for high-performance SCs. The excellent electrochemical performances are mainly attributed to the enlarged interlayer spacing and the reduced band gap owing to the oxygen incorporation in MoS 2 and the hollow microstructure.