Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Lithium–sulfur (Li-S) batteries promise high energy density and low cost but are hindered by polysulfide shuttling, sluggish redox kinetics, poor sulfur conductivity, and lithium dendrite formation. Here, a targeted cation-substitution strategy is applied to Co3O4 spinels by replacing octahedral Co3+ sites with trivalent Al3+ or Fe3+, generating Al2CoO4 and Fe2CoO4 with exclusively tetrahedral Co2+ sites. Structural characterizations confirm the reconstructed cationic environments, and electrochemical analyses show that both substituted spinels surpass pristine Co3O4 in LiPS adsorption and catalytic activity, with Al2CoO4 delivering the strongest LiPS binding, fastest Li+ transport, and most efficient redox conversion. As a result, Li-S cells equipped with Al2CoO4-modified separators exhibit an initial capacity of 1327.5 mAh g−1 at 0.1C, maintain 883.3 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles, and deliver 958.6 mAh g−1 at 1C with an ultralow decay rate of 0.034% per cycle over 1000 cycles. These findings demonstrate that selective Co-site substitution effectively tailors spinel chemistry to boost polysulfide conversion kinetics, ion transport, and long-term cycling stability in high-performance Li-S batteries.
Source: Materials
DOI: 10.3390/ma19020326
Authors: Zhiying Lin, Mingyu Wang, Wen Fu, Zhixin Gu, Zhenkai Yang, Kai Guan, Zaixing Yang, Lulu Wang, Wenjun Wang, Kaixing Zhu
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,137
OpenAlex ID: W7123875814