Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: The shuttling of soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPS) and the sluggish Li–S conversion kinetics are two main barriers toward the practical application of lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). Herein, we propose the addition of copper selenide nanoparticles at the cathode to trap LiPS and accelerate the Li–S reaction kinetics. Using both computational and experimental results, we demonstrate the crystal phase and concentration of copper vacancies to control the electronic structure of the copper selenide, its affinity toward LiPS chemisorption, and its electrical conductivity. The adjustment of the defect density also allows for tuning the electrochemically active sites for the catalytic conversion of polysulfide. The optimized S/Cu 1.8 Se cathode efficiently promotes and stabilizes the sulfur electrochemistry, thus improving significantly the LSB performance, including an outstanding cyclability over 1000 cycles at 3 C with a capacity fading rate of just 0.029% per cycle, a superb rate capability up to 5 C, and a high areal capacity of 6.07 mAh cm –2 under high sulfur loading. Overall, the present work proposes a crystal phase and defect engineering strategy toward fast and durable sulfur electrochemistry, demonstrating great potential in developing practical LSBs.
Source: ACS Nano
Institutions: Henan University, Institut de Recerca en Energia de Catalunya, Universitat de Barcelona, Zhengzhou University, Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas Materials Institute, Chengdu University, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Wenzhou University
Language: English
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Welch Foundation, University of Texas at Austin, Centres de Recerca de Catalunya, Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, European Commission, Generalitat de Catalunya, Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, China Scholarship Council, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, European Regional Development Fund, Agencia Estatal de Investigación, H2020 Research Infrastructures
Awards: G1138737846, G121809054, G1288213089, G1425294836, G1525196516, G1774003206, G1819776118, G1855990336, Enabling Science and Technology through European Electron Microscopy, G1903683864, G2110243209, G2262748287, G2303294173, G2650563883, G2660406951, G2766307117, G2913093573, G3000959222, G3005324705, G3024364240, G3062125675, G3242857132, G3288897321, G3320050967, G3480869486, G3518538256, G3585924809, G3681454997, G3904643641, G4042783231, G425668148, G434337789, G4371774311, G451917667, G4642378816, G4946935635, G526084217, G5421974903, Enabling Science and Technology through European Electron Microscopy, G5805502524, G5967599077, G6298273575, G6326200580, G6466088583, G6646415613, G6656126374, G6709767239, G676850745, G6821131116, G6992099614, G7084143925, G7093591581, G823509973, G8321366781, G8445362340, G8531452799, G8800555043
OpenAlex ID: W4283581933