Issue 40, 2018

Interwoven V2O5 nanowire/graphene nanoscroll hybrid assembled as efficient polysulfide-trapping-conversion interlayer for long-life lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

An alternative strategy for blocking the shuttling of soluble polysulfides in lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries involved introducing an interlayer between the cathode and separator. However, tailoring the interlayer components, structure, and chemistry to realize efficient conversion of polysulfides into insoluble lithium sulfides remains challenging. Herein, a flexible self-standing hybrid interlayer is engineered by intertwining one-dimensional (1D) V2O5 nanowires (NWs) with graphene nanoscrolls (GNS) into a robust interconnected 3D network to be used as both an upper current collector and physical/chemical polysulfide-trapper. The highly conductive and open GNS framework provides bicontinuous transfer channels for rapid electron and ion transport across the cathode/separator interface. Meanwhile, the V2O5 NWs act as ideal redox mediators to dynamically block polysulfide dissolution and facilitate their conversion into sulfides via formation of active intermediate polythionate complexes. Therefore, these cells with 70 wt% sulfur content in the whole cathode have significantly improved performance with a long cycling life (1000 cycles), low capacity decay (0.041% per cycle), and considerable areal capacity (>4 mA h cm−2), even at a high sulfur loading of 5.5 mg cm−2. This novel interlayer design strategy has great potential for promoting the practical use of Li–S batteries.

Graphical abstract: Interwoven V2O5 nanowire/graphene nanoscroll hybrid assembled as efficient polysulfide-trapping-conversion interlayer for long-life lithium–sulfur batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Jul 2018
Accepted
08 Aug 2018
First published
09 Aug 2018

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018,6, 19358-19370

Interwoven V2O5 nanowire/graphene nanoscroll hybrid assembled as efficient polysulfide-trapping-conversion interlayer for long-life lithium–sulfur batteries

Y. Guo, Y. Zhang, Y. Zhang, M. Xiang, H. Wu, H. Liu and S. Dou, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2018, 6, 19358 DOI: 10.1039/C8TA06610H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements