Template-assisted hydrothermal synthesized hydrophilic spherical 1T-MoS2 with excellent zinc storage performance

Highlights: • Cetyl Trimethyl Ammonium Bromide template promotes the self-assemble of MoS₂ nanosheets to form nanoflower structure. • Oxygen changes the electronic structure of the main frame and forms a high 1 T phase content. • Oxygen element partially replaces sulfur element and expands the material layer spacing. • MoS₂-CTAB shows excellent cycling stability and rate performance as cathode material of rechargeable zinc-ion batteries. • The insertion of Zn²⁺ results in an interconversion between the 1 T phase and 2H phase. -- Abstract: In recent years, molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) with sandwich structure has been widely studied as cathode material of aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ARZIBs), but inherent low capacity and short cycle life limit its further development. Here, we synthesized a novel hydrophilic spherical 1T-MoS₂ through hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) template-assisted hydrothermal reaction as cathode materials for ARZIBs and systematically study its mechanism of electrochemical enhancement. The results suggest that stable spherical MoS₂ was prepared by in-situ reduction of molybdate ion under the electrostatic absorption of CTAB template and O element introduced by ethylene glycol (oil-phase solvent) not only increases the hydrophilicity of the material and facilitates the intercalation of ammonium ions and water molecules, but also promotes the formation of the 1 T phase by changing the electronic structure. Consequently, this modified electrode exhibits a reversible capacity of 110 mAh g⁻¹ at the current density of 1.0 A g⁻¹, and the capacity retention rate is up to 90% after 500 cycles, showing excellent cycling stability and rate performance.