Carbonized Polymer Dots for Controlling Construction of MoS₂ Flower-Like Nanospheres to Achieve High-Performance Li/Na Storage Devices

Despite being one of the most promising materials in anode materials, molybdenum sulfide (MoS₂) encounters certain obstacles, such as inadequate cycle stability, low conductivity, and unsatisfactory charge-discharge (CD) rate performance. In this study, a novel approach is employed to address the drawbacks of MoS₂. Carbon polymer dots (CPDs) are incorporated to prepare three-dimensional (3D) nanoflower-like spheres of MoS₂@CPDs through the self-assembly of MoS₂ 2D nanosheets, followed by annealing at 700 °C. The CPDs play a main role in the creation of the nanoflower-like spheres and also mitigate the MoS₂ nanosheet limitations. The nanoflower-like spheres minimize volume changes during cycling and improve the rate performance, leading to exceptional rate performance and cycling stability in both Lithium-ion and Sodium-ion batteries (LIBs and SIBs). The optimized MoS₂@CPDs-2 electrode achieves a superb capacity of 583.4 mA h g⁻¹ at high current density (5 A g⁻¹) after 1000 cycles in LIBs, and the capacity remaining of 302.8 mA h g⁻¹ after 500 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹ in SIBs. Additionally, the full cell of LIBs/SIBs exhibits high capacity and good cycling stability, demonstrating its potential for practical application in fast-charging and high-energy storage.