Aluminum promoted sulfidation of ammonium perrhenate: Presence of nanobattery in the ReS₂ composite material based memcapacitor

This study demonstrates a new approach to the synthesis of rhenium disulfide (ReS₂) in a sulfidation reaction of ammonium perrhenate (NH₄ReO₄), occurring at room temperature and in water solution. It was found that aluminum (Al) plays a catalytic role in the reaction taking place in low ionic strength solutions. The reaction product is characterized using several analysis techniques, including energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Furthermore, an interesting observation of both memristive and memcapacitive effects, existence of nanobattery with an electromotive force estimated to be 0.80 V, in a prototypical device based on the as-synthesized ReS₂ composite material is presented. This finding shows promise for the implementation of the ReS₂ in the next generation memristor technology.