Issue 7, 2019

Poly(ionic liquid)–zinc polyoxometalate composite as a binder-free cathode for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

The development of the most promising next-generation Li–S batteries with high utilization of sulfur while retaining high capacity is one of the great challenges of the 21st century. Here, we reported sandwich polyoxometalate [WZn3(H2O)2(ZnW9O34)2]12− (ZnPOM) over a poly(1-vinyl-3(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl)imidazolium) cation (PVIMo) matrix as a binder-free cathode catalyst for a high-capacity LiS battery with a high areal loading of 7.68 mg cm−2 and high areal capacity of 11.14 mA h cm−2 (70% sulfur). The synergistic effect between PVIMo and ZnPOM resulted in outstanding initial discharge capacity of 1450 mA h g−1 at 0.5 C with high capacity retention (97%), high coulombic efficiency (>98%) and a negligible capacity fading rate of 0.02% per cycle at an electrolyte/sulfur ratio of 10 μL(E) mg(S)−1 and capacity fading of only 0.02% per cycle. The cationic polymer PVIMo held the negatively charged polysulfide ions at the cathode and ZnPOM facilitated the conversion of polysulfides to sulfur. Quantitative estimation by EQCM, UV-Vis analysis and potentiometric titration demonstrated negligible loss of sulfur even after 120 cycles of the charge–discharge process.

Graphical abstract: Poly(ionic liquid)–zinc polyoxometalate composite as a binder-free cathode for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
17 Dec 2018
Accepted
18 Jan 2019
First published
18 Jan 2019

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019,7, 3018-3023

Poly(ionic liquid)–zinc polyoxometalate composite as a binder-free cathode for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

V. Singh, A. K. Padhan, S. D. Adhikary, A. Tiwari, D. Mandal and T. C. Nagaiah, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 3018 DOI: 10.1039/C8TA12192C

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