It
is found in experiments that alkaline metal intercalation is
an effective way to induce structural phase transitions in layered
MoS2. Here, we systemically study the role of interlayer
rotation angle and grain boundary in tuning lithium intercalation
concentration, which controls the H → T′ phase transition
in bilayer MoS2. We propose a new method, named equipotential
energy diagram (EED), which can obtain reliable lithium diffusion
pathways and energy barriers in complex systems. Our results show
that interlayer rotation will slightly increase the lithium binding
energy and diffusion energy barriers, which may weaken the lithium
diffusion in bilayer MoS2. On the contrary, we found that
the grain boundary can sharply increase the lithium binding energies
and diffusion energy barriers in bilayer MoS2, which significantly
hinders the lithium diffusion, resulting in low lithium intercalation
concentrations. Therefore, the intercalation concentration of lithium
between the MoS2 bilayers with rotating stacking may be
too low to induce the H → T′ phase transition. Our study
provides a fundamental understanding of the interlayer rotation angle
and grain boundary in tuning alkaline metal intercalation concentrations
in layered transition metal chalcogenides.