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Sun Y, Wang J, Shang T, Li Z, Li K, Wang X, Luo H, Lv W, Jiang L, Wan Y. Counting d-Orbital Vacancies of Transition-Metal Catalysts for the Sulfur Reduction Reaction. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2023; 62:e202306791. [PMID: 37779352 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202306791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Revised: 09/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/28/2023] [Indexed: 10/03/2023]
Abstract
The electrocatalytic sulfur reduction reaction (SRR) would allow the production of renewable high-capacity rechargeable lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries using sustainable and nontoxic elemental sulfur as a cathode material, but its slow reaction rate causes a serious shuttle effect and dramatically reduces the capacity. We found that a catalyst composed of Pd nanoparticles supported by ordered mesoporous carbon (Pd/OMC) had a high reaction rate in the SRR, and a Li-S battery assembled with this catalyst had a low shuttle constant of 0.031 h-1 and a high-rate performance with a specific capacity of 1527 mAh g-1 at 0.1 C which is close to the theoretical value. The high activity of Pd/OMC with a d-orbital vacancy of 0.87 e was predicted from a volcano relationship between the d charge for the metal and the adsorption activation entropy and reaction rate for the SRR by examining Pd, Au, Pt, Rh, and Ru transition-metal nanocatalysts. The strategy of using a single electronic structure descriptor to design high-efficiency SRR catalysts has suggested a way to produce practical Li-S batteries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yafei Sun
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237, Shanghai, China
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
| | - Jingyi Wang
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
| | - Tongxin Shang
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237, Shanghai, China
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Non-carbon Energy Conversion and Utilization Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, Shanghai, China
| | - Zejian Li
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials and Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, 518055, Shenzhen, China
| | - Kanghui Li
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
| | - Xianwei Wang
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
| | - Huarui Luo
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei Lv
- Shenzhen Key Laboratory for Graphene-based Materials and Engineering Laboratory for Functionalized Carbon Materials, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, 518055, Shenzhen, China
| | - Lilong Jiang
- National Engineering Research Center of Chemical Fertilizer Catalyst, Fuzhou University, 350007, Fuzhou, China
| | - Ying Wan
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, 200237, Shanghai, China
- The Education Ministry Key Laboratory of Resource Chemistry, Joint International Research Laboratory of Resource Chemistry of Ministry of Education, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Functional Materials, Shanghai Normal University, 200234, Shanghai, China
- Shanghai Non-carbon Energy Conversion and Utilization Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 200240, Shanghai, China
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Zhu J, Cao J, Cai G, Zhang J, Zhang W, Xie S, Wang J, Jin H, Xu J, Kong X, Jin S, Li Z, Ji H. Non-trivial Contribution of Carbon Hybridization in Carbon-based Substrates to Electrocatalytic Activities in Li-S Batteries. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2023; 62:e202214351. [PMID: 36416106 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202214351] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2022] [Revised: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 11/23/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Appling an electrochemical catalyst is an efficient strategy for inhibiting the shuttle effect and enhancing the S utilization of Li-S batteries. Carbon-based materials are the most common conductive agents and catalyst supports used in Li-S batteries, but the correlation between the diversity of hybridizations and sulfur reduction reaction (SRR) catalytic activity remains unclear. Here, by establishing two forms of carbon models, i.e., graphitic carbon (GC) and amorphous carbon (AC), we observe that the nitrogen atom doped in the GC possesses a higher local charge density and a lower Gibbs free energy towards the formation of polysulfides than in the AC. And the GC-based electrode consistently inherits considerably enhanced SRR kinetics and superior cycling stability and rate capability in Li-S batteries. Therefore, the function of carbon in Li-S batteries is not only limited as conductive support but also plays an unignorable contribution to the electrocatalytic activities of SRR.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiawen Zhu
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Jiaqi Cao
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Guolei Cai
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Jing Zhang
- Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Wei Zhang
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Shuai Xie
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Jinxi Wang
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Hongchang Jin
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Junjie Xu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
| | - Xianghua Kong
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China
| | - Song Jin
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Zhenyu Li
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
| | - Hengxing Ji
- Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Department of Applied Chemistry, Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China
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Feng S, Fu ZH, Chen X, Li BQ, Peng HJ, Yao N, Shen X, Yu L, Gao YC, Zhang R, Zhang Q. An Electrocatalytic Model of the Sulfur Reduction Reaction in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022; 61:e202211448. [PMID: 36314993 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202211448] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is strongly considered as one of the most promising energy storage systems due to its high theoretical energy density and low cost. However, the sluggish reduction kinetics from Li2 S4 to Li2 S during discharge hinders the practical application of Li-S batteries. Although various electrocatalysts have been proposed to improve the reaction kinetics, the electrocatalytic mechanism is unclear due to the complexity of sulfur reduction reactions (SRR). It is crucial to understand the electrocatalytic mechanism thoroughly for designing advanced electrocatalysts. Herein an electrocatalytic model is constructed to reveal the chemical mechanism of the SRR in Li-S batteries based on systematical density functional theory calculations, taking heteroatoms-doped carbon materials as an example. The adsorption energy of LiSy ⋅ (y=1, 2, or 3) radicals is used as a key descriptor to predict the reaction pathway, rate-determining step, and overpotential. A diagram for designing advanced electrocatalysts is accordingly constructed. This work establishes a theoretical model, which is an intelligent integration for probing the complicated SRR mechanisms and designing advanced electrocatalysts for high-performance Li-S batteries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuai Feng
- College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Taishan University, Shandong, 271021, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Zhong-Heng Fu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Xiang Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Bo-Quan Li
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China.,Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing, Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China
| | - Hong-Jie Peng
- Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 611731, Sichuan, China
| | - Nan Yao
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Xin Shen
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Legeng Yu
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Yu-Chen Gao
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Rui Zhang
- Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing, Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, China
| | - Qiang Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
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Li H, Meng R, Guo Y, Ye C, Kong D, Johannessen B, Jaroniec M, Qiao SZ. Unraveling the Catalyst-Solvent Interactions in Lean-Electrolyte Sulfur Reduction Electrocatalysis for Li-S Batteries. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022; 61:e202213863. [PMID: 36289045 PMCID: PMC10099598 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202213863] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Efficient catalyst design is important for lean-electrolyte sulfur reduction in Li-S batteries. However, most of the reported catalysts were focused on catalyst-polysulfide interactions, and generally exhibit high activity only with a large excess of electrolyte. Herein, we proposed a general rule to boost lean-electrolyte sulfur reduction by controlling the catalyst-solvent interactions. As evidenced by synchrotron-based analysis, in situ spectroscopy and theoretical computations, strong catalyst-solvent interaction greatly enhances the lean-electrolyte catalytic activity and battery stability. Benefitting from the strong interaction between solvent and cobalt catalyst, the Li-S battery achieves stable cycling with only 0.22 % capacity decay per cycle with a low electrolyte/sulfur mass ratio of 4.2. The lean-electrolyte battery delivers 79 % capacity retention compared with the battery with flooded electrolyte, which is the highest among the reported lean-electrolyte Li-S batteries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Li
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Rongwei Meng
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
| | - Yong Guo
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300350, China
| | - Chao Ye
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Debin Kong
- College of New Energy, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, China
| | - Bernt Johannessen
- Australian Synchrotron, ANSTO, 800 Blackburn Rd., Clayton, VIC 3168, Australia
| | - Mietek Jaroniec
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry & Advanced Materials and Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH 44242, USA
| | - Shi-Zhang Qiao
- School of Chemical Engineering & Advanced Materials, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
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