WS2 nanosheets vertically grown on Ti3C2 as superior anodes for lithium-ion batteries

Tungsten disulfide (WS2) is considered as a promising anode material for high-performance lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) result from its inherent characteristics such as high theoretical capacity, large interlayer spacing and weak interlayer Van der Waals force. Nevertheless, WS2 has the drawbacks of easy agglomeration, severe volume expansion and high Li+ migration barrier, which lead to rapid capacity degradation and imperfect rate ability. In this work, a novel two-dimensional (2D) hierarchical composite (Ti3C2/WS2) consisting of WS2 nanosheets vertically grown on titanium carbide (Ti3C2) nanosheets is prepared. Thanks to this distinctive hierarchical structure and synergy between WS2 and Ti3C2, the Ti3C2/WS2 composite demonstrates exceptional electrochemical performance in LIBs. In addition, we investigate the effect of the mass proportion of WS2 in Ti3C2/WS2 composite on the electrochemical performance, and find that the optimal mass ratio of WS2 is 60%. As expected, the optimal electrode exhibits a high specific capacity (650 mAh/g at 0.1 A/g after 100 cycles) and ultra-long cycle stability (400 mAh/g at 1.0 A/g after 5000 cycles).