Honeycomb-Like Nitrogen-Doped Carbon 3D Nanoweb@Li2 S Cathode Material for Use in Lithium Sulfur Batteries

Interconnected NiCo2O4 nanosheet arrays grown on carbon cloth as a host, adsorber and catalyst for sulfur species enabling high-performance Li-S batteries

Li-S batteries are a promising next-generation electrochemical energy-storage system due to their high energy density, as well as the abundance and low cost of sulfur. However, the low conductivity of sulfur and Li₂S/Li₂S₂, as well as the dissolution and shuttling of intermediate lithium polysulfides, is a great challenge for high-performance Li-S batteries. Herein, interconnected NiCo₂O₄ nanosheet arrays grown on carbon cloth (CC) are applied as the cathode (S/NiCo₂O₄/CC) in Li-S batteries for accommodating sulfur. The obtained cathode shows high conductivity, high dispersion of sulfur species and excellent polysulfide adsorption and catalytic properties. As a result, significantly higher specific capacity (1480 vs. 1048 mA h g^-1 at 0.1C) and greatly enhanced rate performance (624 vs. 215 mA h g^-1 at 2C) are obtained for the S/NiCo₂O₄/CC cathode in comparison to S/CC. Further, the S/NiCo₂O₄/CC cathode demonstrates a low capacity decay of 0.060% per cycle over 400 cycles at 0.5C.

Guidelines and trends for next-generation rechargeable lithium and lithium-ion batteries

This review article summarizes the current trends and provides guidelines towards next-generation rechargeable lithium and lithium-ion battery chemistries.

A new high-capacity and safe energy storage system: lithium-ion sulfur batteries

Lithium-ion sulfur batteries as a new energy storage system with high capacity and enhanced safety have been emphasized, and their development has been summarized in this review. The lithium-ion sulfur battery applies elemental sulfur or lithium sulfide as the cathode and lithium-metal-free materials as the anode, which can be divided into two main types. One is anode-type, where elemental sulfur is applied as the cathode, and the anode provides lithium ions. The other one is cathode-type, where lithium sulfide as the cathode provides lithium ions, and lithium-metal-free materials (e.g., graphite, silicon/carbon) function as the anode. Recently, some new lithium-ion sulfur battery systems have also been proposed, and are discussed in this review as well. The lithium-ion sulfur batteries not only maintain the advantage of high energy density because of the high capacities of sulfur and lithium sulfide, but also exhibit the improved safety of the batteries due to a non-lithium-metal in the anode. This review paper aims to track the recent progress in the development of lithium-ion sulfur batteries and summarize the challenges and the approaches for improving their electrochemical performances, including the lithiation methods to prepare lithium-metal-free anodes in anode-type lithium-ion sulfur batteries and the lithium sulfide cathode modification approaches in cathode-type lithium-ion sulfur batteries. Furthermore, the challenges and perspectives for future research and commercial applications have also been enumerated.

Electrocatalysis of S-doped carbon with weak polysulfide adsorption enhances lithium–sulfur battery performance

S-doped carbon boosts the conversion of lithium polysulfides by electrocatalysis as revealed by kinetic analysis and theoretical calculation, which suppresses the serious polarization effect and thus enhances the Li–S battery performance, despite its weak adsorption to polysulfides.