Issue 3, 2018

A highly efficient double-hierarchical sulfur host for advanced lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Li–S batteries have attracted enormous interest due to their potentially high energy density, non-toxicity and the low cost of sulfur. The main challenges of sulfur cathodes are the short cycling life and limited power density caused by the low conductivity of sulfur and dissolution of Li polysulfides. Here we design a new double-hierarchical sulfur host to address these problems. Hierarchical carbon spheres (HCSs), constructed from building blocks of hollow carbon nanobubbles for loading sulfur, are sealed within a thin, polar MoS2 coating composed of ultrathin nanosheets. Experimental and theoretical studies show a strong absorption of the MoS2 nanoshell to polysulfides, and the excellent stability of the MoS2 nanosheets after the adsorption of polysulfides. Moreover, MoS2 promotes the electrochemical redox kinetics in Li–S batteries. Benefiting from the unique hierarchical, hollow and compositional characteristics of the host, the S/MoS2@HCS composite electrode shows a high capacity of 1048 mA h g−1 at 0.2C, good rate capacity and long cycling life with a slow capacity decay of 0.06% per cycle.

Graphical abstract: A highly efficient double-hierarchical sulfur host for advanced lithium–sulfur batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
09 sep 2017
Accepted
06 nov 2017
First published
06 nov 2017
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2018,9, 666-675

A highly efficient double-hierarchical sulfur host for advanced lithium–sulfur batteries

L. Hu, C. Dai, J. Lim, Y. Chen, X. Lian, M. Wang, Y. Li, P. Xiao, G. Henkelman and M. Xu, Chem. Sci., 2018, 9, 666 DOI: 10.1039/C7SC03960C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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