Synthesis of molybdenum disulfide/carbon aerogel composites for supercapacitors electrode material application

• MoS2/carbon aerogel is synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route.
• Supercapacitor electrode based on MoS2/carbon aerogel hybrid film was fabricated.
• Microstructures and electrochemical properties of the electrodes were evaluated.
• MoS2/carbon aerogel exhibited high specific capacitance and good cycling stability.

In this work, carbon aerogel incorporated flower-like molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) was synthesized via a facile hydrothermal route assisted by l-cysteine. The as-prepared samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical performances of the products were evaluated by cyclic voltammogram, galvanostatic charge–discharge and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The as-prepared MoS2/carbon aerogel hybrid film showed a specific capacitance of 260.0 F g−1 at a current density of 1 A g−1 in 1.0 M Na2SO4 aqueous solution. This value was much higher than that of pure MoS2 nanoflower electrodes (118.9 F g−1) and carbon aerogel electrodes (15.0 F g−1). Furthermore, MoS2/carbon aerogel hybrids also exhibited good cycling stability with more than 92.4% capacitance retention over 1500 cycles. These results provided a facile, cost-effective and high-performance strategy for supercapacitor electrode applications and the present synthesis strategy maybe readily extended to the preparation of other hybrids based on MoS2 for potential applications in energy storage and conversion devices.