Fig. 1

Comparison of different strategies and the polymer direct intercalation. a–c The schematic illustrations show the conventional synthetic strategies to realize interlayer-expended MoS2 (a, b) and the polymer-direct-intercalation (PDI) strategy for the synthesis of a MoS2/NC heteroaerogel (c) to prepare interlayer-expended MoS2/carbon composites. d The schematic illustration for the synthetic procedure of the MoS2/NC heteroaerogel. e–g Optical photographs of the as-synthesized pre-intercalated MoS2 nanosheets (e), the MoS2-PEI (PEI, Mw = 600) composite after freeze-drying (f), and the MoS2/NC heteroaerogel after carbonization (g). Insets of (e–g) show the corresponding SEM images with scale bars of 100 nm