Transition metal chalcogenides for energy storage and conversion

Abstract The global energy crisis and environmental pollution have resulted in an increase in research efforts to develop renewable energy devices including lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), zinc-air batteries (ZABs), supercapacitors (SCs), and so on. Transition metal chalcogenides (TMCs) have been attracting increasing attentions as electrode materials, mainly thanks to the abundant redox sites, unique crystal structures, and rich physiochemical properties. When introducing carbon substrate with high conductivity as support, TMC-based composites exhibited high electrochemical performance. As anode materials for LIBs and SIBs, TMCs based composites demonstrated high lithium/sodium storage, great specific capacity, high rate capability and excellent cyclic stability. For ZABs, TMCs as air-cathode catalysts can catalyze both oxygen reduction and oxygen evolution reactions with high efficiency and excellent durability. When TMCs are employed as electrode materials, high specific capacity, enhanced energy density and outstanding stability can be achieved for SCs. In summary, TMCs have shown great promises for developing renewable energy technologies.