discharge capacity suggests there was extra capacity generated in the 0.2-2.5 V range via Route B to compensate for the capacity loss that would have been gained in the 0.001-0.2 V range via Route A. Second, despite the smaller voltage range from cycle2 onwards, Route B resulted in higher capacities than Route A across all current densities tested for rate capability (Figure ). The cell via Route B delivered capacities of 256, 236, 222, 198, 160, 134, 124, and 91 mAh g -1 at 30, 50, 100, 200, 500, 800, 1000, and 2000 mA g -1 , respectively. It retained 263 mAh g -1 when returning to 30 mA g -1 . In contrast, the cell via Route A showed rapid capacity decay and failed at >1 A g -1 . Third, Route B exhibited much better cycling stability than Route A (Figure ). At 100 mA g -1 , the cell via Route B delivered an initial discapacity of 167 mAh g -1 , 77% of which was retained after 200 cycles. Although the cell via Route A delivered a higher capacity in the initial cycles due to the wider voltage range (0.001-2.5 V), only 54% onwards. The same trend was observed at 1 A g -1 over 500 cycles (Figure ). Route B resulted in 84% capacity retention in comparison to 44% retention via Route A. We are mindful that the PIB performance obtained here is not comparable to some of the best in literature obtained by forming nanocomposites (Figure ). Figure shows the Fourier transformed (FT) Mo K-edge EXAFS taken at various states during the first two cycles via Route B. The fitting of the EXAFS spectra is shown in Figure . Two strong peaks can be seen at 2.4 Å and 3.1 Å from pristine MoS2, representing the Mo-S interaction in the 1 st coordination shell and the Mo-Mo interaction in 2 nd coordination shell of 2H-MoS2, respectively (Figure ). When discharged to 0.2 V, the Mo-Mo (3.1 Å) peak of MoS2 decreased and the decrease in intensity was caused by structural transformation of MoS2 to KxMoS2. Further potassiation to 0.001 V caused a significant decline of the amplitude of the Mo-S peak and a strong amplitude of the Mo-Mo interaction at 2.8 Å, the latter corresponding to metallic Mo seen in the Mo foil reference. This proves the occurrence of the conversion reaction that results in the loss of layered structure and the reduction of Mo 4+ to Mo 0 . At the end of the 1 st charge, Mo-S peak was resumed as expected due to the restoration of the MoS2 structure upon depotassiation, but not to the same extent of pristine state. Interestingly, the Mo-Mo peak was present alongside with the Mo-S peak and with a similar amplitude, which clearly suggests the partial oxidation of Mo 0 back to Mo 4 and the coexistence of metallic Mo with the restored MoS2. The next cycle in the 0.2-2.5 V range showed reversible peak changes, where Mo-S decreased upon potassiation and increased upon depotassiation, whereas Mo-Mo was present throughout (de)potassiation and became even stronger than Mo-S after the 2 nd depotassiation. The best-fit results of coordination number (CN) are provided in Table . The CN of Mo-S bond decreased during discharge, signifying the structural transformation of MoS2. In addition, the presence of metallic Mo upon depotassiation was proven by the Mo 3d XPS spectra. As shown in Figure , the Mo 0 peaks can be seen at 228.9 (3d3/2) and 226.1 eV (3d5/2) at the end of the 1 st and 2 nd charge, together with Mo 4+ from the reverse conversion reaction and Mo (potassiation), which agrees with previous work. Particularly, the presence of S 2-, evidenced by the peaks at 160.1 and 158.7 eV, signals the formation of K2S and the reduction of Mo 4+ . What is interesting is that, after depotassiation, peaks of S 0 appeared at 163.2 and 164.8 eV, and the peak area of S3 2-/Sx 2-increased at the expense of the decrease in S2 2-/S 2 .