Thermally oxidized MoS2-based hybrids as superior electrodes for supercapacitor and photoelectrochemical applications

High electronic transport and reasonable chemical stability of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) make it very suitable for electrochemical applications. However, its energy storage capacity is still low compared with other nanostructures. In this work, pristine and thermally oxidized MoS2 (O@MoS2) based hybrids are introduced by a simple method with enhanced capacitive performance thanks to the contribution of synergistic effects. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), elemental mapping, UV-Visible, Raman, X-ray photoelectron (XPS) spectroscopies and BET specific surface area analyses are employed to investigate the morphological and crystalline structure of the introduced hybrids. In detail, the highest gravimetric capacitance of similar to 205.1 Fg(-1) is achieved for the MoS2:O@MoS2 hybrid with a mass ratio of 2:1 compared to pristine and other electrodes. This electrode is also accompanied by the longest discharging time and excellent cyclic stability of similar to%113 after 2000 continuous charge-discharge cycles. In addition, photo-electrochemical testing of the introduced electrode leads to a similar to 63% increase in carrier photogeneration compared to MoS2 due to the effective charge separation within the hybrid, which makes it suitable for water splitting and hydrogen production applications.