Synthesis and characterization of reduced graphene oxide wrapped MoO3/TiS2 nanocomposite for high performance energy storage applications

[Display omitted] •The rGO/TiS2/MoO3 electrode is fabricated.•The incorporation of TiS2/MoO3 in the reduced graphene oxide has improved the electrochemical performance.•The rGO/TiS2/MoO3 electrodes retained 98.56 % of their specific capacitance after 8000 cycles.•The rGO/TiS2/MoO3 nanocomposite electrode showed specific capacitance of 1044 mAh/g, for current density of 1 A/g.•The stability of the nanocomposite was enhanced without altering its morphology and chemical structure. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is added to MoO3 and TiS2 to develop several hybrid electrode materials, including rGO/MoO3, rGO/TiS2, and rGO/MoO3/TiS2 to enhance the electrochemical performance. SEM/EDX, TEM, XRD, XPS, and Raman techniques are used to study the resulting hybrid electrode materials. The specific capacitance and charge–discharge stability of the synthesized rGO/MoO3, rGO/TiS2, and rGO/MoO3/TiS2 electrode materials are assessed using galvanostatic and cyclic voltammetry testing. The rGO/MoO3/TiS2 exhibits higher specific capacitance of 1043.72 mA h/g at 20 mV/s as compared to rGO/TiS2 (625.61 mA h/g), rGO/MoO3 (567.54 mA h/g), and rGO (154.40 mA h/g), among the examined. All electrochemical measurements were conducted in a 3 M KOH solution. The rGO/MoO3/TiS2 electrode was found to have Rct value of 20.8 Ω.cm2. This value was much lower than that of the rGO electrode (89.8 Ω.cm2), indicating that the rGO/MoO3/TiS2 exhibits much lower resistance, which causes the improved electrochemical performance of the rGO/MoO3/TiS2. The retention of capacitance of 98.56 % after 8,000 cycles at 1 A/g shows that this rGO/MoO3/TiS2 hybrid electrode also exhibits good cycling stability. The rGO/MoO3/TiS2 composites' respective energy and power densities are determined to be 882 Wh/kg and 5773 W/kg. The good electrochemical performance of the rGO/TiS2/MoO3 composite anode is closely related to its structure, in which the TiS2/MoO3 nanoparticles are not only homogeneously anchored on the surface but also embedded in the interlayer of the rGO sheets; hence the volume change and aggregation of the TiS2/MoO3 nanoparticles can be effectively hindered. On the other hand, rGO itself is an electronic conductor; the rGO and TiS2/MoO3 nanoparticles connect closely, which offers large electrode/electrolyte contacting area, short path length for transporting of ions.