Ammonium-Ion supercapacitor based on MoS2 nanosheets synthesized from recycled industrial waste

The project follows two different paths: (1) development of nanomaterials active for ammonium-ion intercalation, which is a promising route for energy storage devices; and (2) application of recycled materials, indeed the urban mining is a good practise and one of the key principles for a more sustainable future. Hence in our work Mo-based recycled powder were used to synthesize molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) nanosheets, through a hydrothermal treatment, which is considered a low-cost method due to the low temperature employed. In the last years supercapacitors attracts much interests thanks to the good coupling of energy and power density, to these material class belong the transition metal oxides and sulphides, like MoS2. The NH4+ ion is a promising energy vector thanks to its features like abundance, low molar mass and capacity to form hydrogen bonds with host materials easy to break. There is also the possibility to obtain NH4+ ions from environmentally friendly electrolyte like ammonium sulphate ((NH4)2SO4).

The proposal activity wants to go deep in the analysis of MoS2-based nanostructures using electron microscopy and laser-based methodologies, in order to complement our recently acquired data via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Raman Spectroscopy at 633 nm, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and UV-Vis.

In particular, we want to focus our attention on high resolution TEM, atomic resolution HAADF-STEM and synchrotons  investigations to extrapolate information onto our samples‘ atomic structure.