Batteries are currently present in our everyday life and have countless applications from smartphones to medical and military uses. Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) started to attract a lot of attention in the 70s due to their good performance, high energy density and no memory effect and are nowadays the dominating types of rechargeable batteries used in the market due to their energy storage capacity and well-known chemistry. Carbons have been used in commercial batteries for more than 20 years, being the most commonly employed anode material for LIBs nowadays. Intercalation of Li-ions between the graphene planes offers carbon a good 2D mechanical stability, electrical conductivity and easy Li transport. Despite all the advantages of graphite carbons, researchers figured that this material exhibits some disadvantages as incompatibility with some electrolytes, electrochemical stability and volume expansion, which results in rapid capacity fading. Since the discovery of graphene, other two-dimensional (2D) materials have been the centre of attention as suitable anode materials for LIBs. Recently, layered two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been on the rise due to their attractive physical and chemical properties, which could be used in energy storage applications. These class of materials are represented with formula MX2 where M is a transition metal from groups 4 to 7 and X is a chalcogen atom and have been attracting lots of attention as anode materials for LIBs due to their structural similarity with graphene. Tellurium-based TMDs have been gaining more interest than sulphides and selenides due to its intrinsic chemical versatility, high electronic conductivity and high material density resulting in higher utilization of active materials than sulphur and selenium analogues. The main aims and objectives of this 4-year PhD studentship project are: 1) To study and develop new suitable negative (anode) electrode materials that can reversibly intercalate ions (e.g. Li+) with the aim to replace the current state of the art anode materials in the studied battery technologies 2) To synthase and characterize several transition metal dichalcogenides materials using several analytical techniques (e.g. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP-OES), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)). X-ray diffraction will be used for primary phase identification and study the crystallinity of the bulk materials as well as check for the existence of impurities. ICP-OES will be used to collect data on the elemental composition of the materials. SEM will be used to acquire high-resolution images of the electrode materials in order to have information on the particle's size and morphology. 3) To evaluate the electrode suitability to be used as electrode materials at room temperature for LIBs and NIBs through electrochemical characterization (galvanostatic cycling, impedance tests). These electrochemical measurements will be used to evaluate that charge stored in these materials as well as the redox processes occurring in these materials (eg. Intercalation vs capacitance). The electrochemical characterization will be used to evaluate the suitability of the electrodes as anode materials focusing on the number of ions inserted (specific capacity), the durability of the material (cyclability) and stability. 4) To use advanced synchrotron radiation for characterization of the materials during battery cycling (operando). Particularly, we will use (X-ray Absorption Near Edge Spectroscopy (XANES) and X-ray Diffraction (XRD)) to gain knowledge on the transition metal oxidation state changes and monitor the structural evolution (such as phase transitions and appearance of new phases) in the materials while Li insertion and extraction take place, respectively. Approach: The novelty of this project lies in the making of potential novel chalcogenide electrode materials for Li-ion batteries.