Citation: Lee, Y.A.; Jang, K.Y.; Yoo, J.; Yim, K.; Jung, W.; Jung, K.-N.; Yoo, C.-Y.; Cho, Y.; Lee, J.; Ryu, M.H.; et al. Three-Dimensional Flower-like MoS 2 Nanosheets Grown on Graphite as High-Performance Anode Materials for Fast-Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries. Materials 2023, 16, 4016. https://doi.org/10.3390/ ma16114016 Academic Editors: Jinsheng Zhao and Zhenyu Yang Received: 20 April 2023 Revised: 15 May 2023 Accepted: 24 May 2023 Published: 27 May 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). materials Article Three-Dimensional Flower-like MoS 2 Nanosheets Grown on Graphite as High-Performance Anode Materials for Fast-Charging Lithium-Ion Batteries Yeong A. Lee 1,2,† , Kyu Yeon Jang 1,3,† , Jaeseop Yoo 2,† , Kanghoon Yim 4 , Wonzee Jung 4,5 , Kyu-Nam Jung 1 , Chung-Yul Yoo 6 , Younghyun Cho 7 , Jinhong Lee 1 , Myung Hyun Ryu 1 , Hyeyoung Shin 2, * , Kyubock Lee 2, * and Hana Yoon 1, * 1 Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), Daejeon 34129, Republic of Korea; yeonga1902@kier.re.kr (Y.A.L.); kyuyeonjang@gmail.com (K.Y.J.); mitamire@kier.re.kr (K.-N.J.); jinhong02@kier.re.kr (J.L.); nicengood@kier.re.kr (M.H.R.) 2 Graduate School of Energy Science and Technology (GEST), Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea; yjs567@naver.com 3 Department of Advanced Energy Technologies and System Engineering, Korea University of Science and Technology (UST), Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea 4 Computational Science and Engineering Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), Daejeon 34129, Republic of Korea; khyim@kier.re.kr (K.Y.); kyjung1020@kier.re.kr (W.J.) 5 Department of Physics, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 34134, Republic of Korea 6 Department of Chemistry, Mokpo National University, Muan-gun 58554, Republic of Korea; chungyulyoo@mokpo.ac.kr 7 Department of Energy Systems, Soonchunhyang University, Asan 31538, Republic of Korea; yhcho@sch.ac.kr * Correspondence: shinhy@cnu.ac.kr (H.S.); kyubock.lee@cnu.ac.kr (K.L.); hanayoon@kier.re.kr (H.Y.) † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: The demand for fast-charging lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) with long cycle life is growing rapidly due to the increasing use of electric vehicles (EVs) and energy storage systems (ESSs). Meeting this demand requires the development of advanced anode materials with improved rate capabilities and cycling stability. Graphite is a widely used anode material for LIBs due to its stable cycling performance and high reversibility. However, the sluggish kinetics and lithium plating on the graphite anode during high-rate charging conditions hinder the development of fast-charging LIBs. In this work, we report on a facile hydrothermal method to achieve three-dimensional (3D) flower-like MoS 2 nanosheets grown on the surface of graphite as anode materials with high capacity and high power for LIBs. The composite of artificial graphite decorated with varying amounts of MoS 2 nanosheets, denoted as MoS 2 @AG composites, deliver excellent rate performance and cycling stability. The 20−MoS 2 @AG composite exhibits high reversible cycle stability (~463 mAh g −1 at 200 mA g −1 after 100 cycles), excellent rate capability, and a stable cycle life at the high current density of 1200 mA g −1 over 300 cycles. We demonstrate that the MoS 2 -nanosheets-decorated graphite composites synthesized via a simple method have significant potential for the development of fast-charging LIBs with improved rate capabilities and interfacial kinetics. Keywords: graphite; molybdenum disulfide; fast charging; high rate capability; hydrothermal synthesis; lithium-ion battery; anode materials 1. Introduction Among various energy storage technologies, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) have been widely investigated as power sources for portable electronics and electric vehicles (EVs) due to their high energy density and long lifespan [1–4]. The rapid expansion of the global EV and energy storage systems (ESSs) market has led to significant demand for fast-charging battery technology that can support the high power and long cycle life Materials 2023, 16, 4016. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16114016 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials