Enhanced Electrochemical and Thermal Transport Properties of Graphene/MoS2 Heterostructures for Energy Storage: Insights from Multiscale Modeling

Graphene has been combined with molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) to ameliorate the poor cycling stability and rate performance of MoS2 in lithium ion batteries, yet the underlying mechanisms remain less explored. Here, we develop multiscale modeling to investigate the enhanced electrochemical and thermal transport properties of graphene/MoS2 heterostructures (GM-Hs) with a complex morphology. The calculated electronic structures demonstrate the greatly improved electrical conductivity of GM-Hs compared to MoS2. Increasing the graphene layers in GM-Hs not only improves the electrical conductivity but also stabilizes the intercalated Li atoms in GM-Hs. It is also found that GM-Hs with three graphene layers could achieve and maintain a high thermal conductivity of 85.5 W/(m.K) at a large temperature range (100-500 K), nearly 6 times that of pure MoS2 [similar to 15 W/(m.K)], which may accelerate the heat conduction from electrodes to the ambient. Our quantitative findings may shed light on the enhanced battery performances of various graphene/transition-metal chalcogenide composites in energy storage devices.