In-situ fabrication of few-layered MoS₂ wrapped on TiO₂-decorated MXene as anode material for durable lithium-ion storage

Rational construction of hybrid materials integrating the collective virtues of individual building blocks has spurred significant interest in electrode materials for energy storage. Herein, a smart hybrid was fabricated via in-situ assembling of the few-layered MoS₂ (f-MoS₂) coated on the multi-layered Ti₃C₂ MXene decorated with the TiO₂ nanoparticles by the scalable hydrothermal and annealing approaches. In the unique architecture, the multi-layered Ti₃C₂ with the expanded interspaces as the conductive backbone can facilitate the electron transport, provide adequate space to facilitate the infiltration of organic electrolyte into the interior of electrode, and inhibit the aggregation of MoS₂ nanosheets, while the f-MoS₂ with enlarged interlayer can be beneficial for the lithium-ion diffusion and prevent the multi-layered Ti₃C₂from restacking. Moreover, the TiO₂ decorated on the Ti₃C₂ can effectively inhibit the instability of long-chain lithium polysulfides dissolved in organic electrolyte to improve the cycling stability. Thanks to the synergistic effect of the building blocks, the Ti₃C₂/TiO₂@f-MoS₂ hybrid employed as lithium storage anode delivers an extraordinary endurable ability with a high storage capacity of 403.1 mA h g⁻¹ after 1200 cycles at 2 A g⁻¹. Importantly, the smart hybridization strategy in this work paves an efficient way to explore the high-performance MXene-based hybrid materials in energy storage fields.