Hydrothermal synthesis of MoS2/rGO composite as sulfur hosts for room temperature sodium-sulfur batteries and its electrochemical properties

•The flower-like structure MoS2/rGO/S was synthesized successfully by the hydrothermal method.•The few atomic layers can encapsulate the polysulfides.•MoS2/rGO/S shows the excellent conductivity and rapid ion transportation capability.•MoS2/rGO/S electrode display a high initial discharge capacity and a superior rate performance. The room temperature sodium-sulfur batteries are an attraction to worldwide industrial and academic as a next-generation energy storage system due to the high energy density, theoretical capacity, and cheap cost of sulfur. However, the practical application is being overdue by fast decay, poor conductivity, and the shuttle effect attributed to the low coulombic efficiency. The present study focuses on preparing MoS2/rGO/S cathode material to overcome the disadvantages of room temperature sodium-sulfur (RT-NaS) batteries. We used hydrothermal method to prepare MoS2, rGO, and MoS2/rGO composite and the sulfur was infused by the melt diffusion. The MoS2/rGO/S composite shows a high reversible capacity of 190 mAh/g after 1000 cycles at a 2 C-rate. The flower-like MoS2/rGO/S composite increases the conductivity and buffers the volume expansion during cycling.