Nanostructured MoS2 particles were synthesized in a very short reaction time of 10 min via a simple supercritical ethanol route for prospective application as an anode material for lithium ion batteries. The as-synthesized MoS2 nanoparticles had a randomly oriented nanoplate structure with a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 67.7 m(2) g(-1) and a porosity of 59.6%. The as-synthesized samples were subjected to calcination at various temperatures in the range of 500-800 degrees C under H2S/Ar and evaluated for use as anode materials in Li ion batteries. Increasing the calcination temperature from 500 to 800 degrees C led to a decrease of the interlayer distance from 0.68 to 0.61 nm and a decrease of the BET surface area from 44.8 to 7.53 m(2) g(-1). The samples calcined at low temperature delivered larger initial capacities (977-1342 mAh g(-1)), while the samples calcined at high temperature exhibited better cycling performance and higher first coulombic efficiency (86-89%). MoS2 calcined at 700 and 800 degrees C gave rise to reversible discharge capacities of 754 and 818 mAh g(-1) at 100 mA g(-1), respectively, without the use of composite structures or carbonaceous supports. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.