Mononuclear and multinuclear Cu sites for modulating heterogeneous catalysis in Li–S batteries

Abstract

The intrinsically sluggish redox kinetics of sulfur species remains a critical challenge for lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries, prompting the exploration of metal–organic small molecules as efficient catalysts for polysulfide (LiPS) conversion. In this work, we design a chain-type Cu coordination catalyst featuring adjacent multi-nuclear Cu sites, alongside a mononuclear Cu-based catalyst as a control to decipher how intermetallic proximity regulates LiPS conversion. The findings show that the boosted proximity in multi-Cu centers processes the enhanced catalytic activity. This work provide a molecular-level foundation for designing proximal-site catalysts and enhancing the performance of Li–S batteries.