Diverse nitrogen-doped 2D layered mesoporous MoS2/reduced graphene oxide composites with superior structural features for enhancing the performance of lithium ion batteries

Highlights: • Nitrogen modified KIT-6/rGO was used for the first to synthesize meso-N-MoS₂/rGO composite. • Strong coupling effect between N-MoS₂ and N-graphene increase the electrochemical property. • The content of pyridinic-N in meso-N-MoS₂/rGO(D) is higher than that in meso-N-MoS₂/rGO(E), which is suit for superior lithium storage. • Layered graphene provides conductive networks. In this paper, we report the construction of nitrogen-doped 2D layered mesoporous molybdenum disulfide/reduced graphene oxide (meso-N-MoS₂/rGO) hybrids via a nanocasting method using ammonium molybdate as molybdenum source, thiourea as sulfur source, and nitrogen modified mesoporous KIT-6/rGO as template. The as-prepared meso-N-MoS₂/rGO is constituted of homogeneously distributed ultrasmall few-layer MoS₂ nanoparticles composited with N-modified graphene nanosheets and possesses a large surface area with high porosity. When being used as anode materials for Li ion batteries (LIBs), the obtained meso-N-MoS₂/rGO hybrid exhibits prominent electrochemical properties in terms of high specific capacity (1195.1 mA h g⁻¹ at 100 mA g⁻¹) and superior rate performance (606.2 mA h g⁻¹ at 1000 mA g⁻¹). The discharge capacity still maintains 872.8 mA h g⁻¹ even after 50 cycles. Such an intriguing electrochemical performance is mainly attributed to its high porosity, large surface area, strong coupling effect between uniform N-doped MoS₂ and N-doped graphene since the N-doping and small size of MoS₂ nanoparticles can set up conductive bridges, abundant pyridine nitrogen, and excellent conductivity. In addition, the layered graphene provides conductive networks, which ensure that lithium ions and electrons have a shorter transmission distance, thereby increasing their ion diffusion rate and ease the charge and discharge process in the volume effect. This work provides an effective strategy to synthesize N-doped meso-MoS₂/rGO hybrids to achieve significantly enhanced electrochemical performance.