Following a “boxes in fibers” strategy, a 3D conductive network is constructed by necklace-like N-doped carbon nanofibers with carbon nanoboxes and TiC as an efficient sulfur host, showing excellent performance even under high-rate and high-loading.
Featuring high theoretical capacity, environmental friendliness and low cost, lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries become promising alternatives to satisfy the growing demand for energy storage. To boost their energy density for practical application, modified separators are needed to suppress shuttle effects resulting from the solubility of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Herein, we modified traditional polypropylene (PP) separators with functional WS2@C nanoflower composites (WS2@C‐PP). They can effectively adsorb LiPSs and catalyze their conversion on the edge sites of the WS2. Also, the unique construction of a carbon layer coating on the WS2 nanoflowers combines active sites and conducting properties. The material benefits the reversibility of redox reactions and reutilization of active materials. With the WS2@C‐PP separator, the cell displays improved cycling stability and rate performance. When cycling at 0.1 C, the cell discharges a capacity of up to 1475 mAh g−1, and it contributes 943 mAh g−1 originally at 1 C, with a decay rate of only 0.07 % after 500 cycles. Our work highlights the potential of functional separators to advance the properties of Li‐S batteries.
The Cover Feature illustrates the mechanism of the WS2@C‐PP separator enhancing Li‐S battery properties: WS2 nanoflower provides abundant surface‐active sites to adsorb the soluble lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Being coupled with the high electric conductivity of carbon coating, WS2@C‐PP helps facilitate the charge transfer, catalyzing the conversion reactions from soluble long‐chain to insoluble short‐chain LiPSs on the cathode side. That efficiently improves the utilization of active materials, thus contributing to superior chemical performances than pure PP does. More information can be found in the Research Article by F. Xie, M. Xiong et al.
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