The origin of the enhanced performance of nitrogen-doped MoS₂ in lithium ion batteries

MoS₂ with a similar layered structure to graphene has been widely applied in various areas including lithium ion batteries. However, low conductivity, capacity fading and poor rate performance are still the main challenges for MoS₂ anode materials. In this work, for the first time, we prepared nitrogen-doped MoS₂ (N-MoS₂) nanosheets through a simple two-step method involving the preparation of MoS₂ with defects by the hydrothermal method, followed by sintering in a NH₃ atmosphere. Our electrochemical characterizations and density functional theory calculations demonstrated that nitrogen doping could enhance the electron conductivity and showed higher specific capacity than pristine MoS₂ as anode materials of lithium ion batteries, which can be attributed to the faster transportation of electrons and ions because of nitrogen doping. This work helps us understand the origin of the enhanced performance of N-doped MoS₂ in lithium ion batteries.