Gadolinium oxide nanorods decorated Ketjen black@sulfur composites as functional catalyzing polysulfides conversion in lithium/sulfur batteries

Abstract

Summary The development of lithium/sulfur batteries (LSBs) was hindered due to the shuttling of lithium polysulfides in electrolytes and sluggish electrochemical kinetics of polysulfides. To address these stumbling blocks, we designed gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) nanorods decoration of ketjen black@sulfur (Gd2O3/KB@S) composite that adsorbs and provides sufficient sites with lithium polysulfides interaction. The Gd2O3 nanorods play a key role in the adsorption and catalysis performance of polysulfides, which further accelerate the redox kinetics. Consequently, the Gd2O3/LB@S cathode with sulfur loading of 3.1 mg cm−2 attained a high initial discharge capacity of 817.2 mAh g−1 at 0.5 C with a decaying rate of 0.097% per cycle over 500 cycles. Even with high sulfur loading of 5 mg cm−2, the Gd2O3/KB@S cathode also presents a capacity of 5.1 mAh at 0.2 C with retention of 73% over 160 cycles. The strategy proposed here would advance the development of continuous rare earth oxides in the field of rechargeable batteries.

Construction of high sulfur loading electrode with functional binder of polyacrylic acid polymer grafted with polyethylene glycol for lithium/sulfur batteries

“…XPS spectra of cycled PAA‐g‐PEG cathode as presented in Figure S8 (a) and it can be seen that the composite is composed of S and C elements. As shown in Figure S8 (b), all the high‐resolution S 2p spectra of PAA‐g‐PEG cathodes can be deconvoluted into several couples of S 2p3/2 and S 2p1/2 , which could be assigned to elemental S 8 (163.9 and 164.8 eV), Li 2 S (162.9 and 164.0 eV), SO 3 2− (167.7 and 169.1 eV), and S‐O (170.8 eV) respectively 61,62 . The presence of SO 3 2− and S‐O are due to sulfate and the decomposition of the electrolyte used to impregnate the electrode during charging and discharging 63 .…”

“…As shown in Figure S8 (b), all the high-resolution S 2p spectra of PAA-g-PEG cathodes can be deconvoluted into several couples of S 2p3/2 and S 2p1/2 , which could be assigned to respectively. 61,62 The presence of SO 3 2À and S-O are due to sulfate and the decomposition of the electrolyte used to impregnate the electrode during charging and discharging. 63 Binder with good adhesion of PAA-g-PEG copolymer binder displays high reversibility and lithium ion diffusion coefficient.…”

Separator Modified by Carbon-Encapsulated CoFe Alloy Nanoparticles Supported on Carbon Nanotubes for Advanced Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…To address the above problems, previous strategies focused on alleviating the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides through physical confinement by porous carbon, carbon nanotubes/nanofibers, , and graphene and chemisorption with metal oxides, − metal sulfides, − metal carbides, − etc. However, the physical and chemical adsorption of lithium polysulfides cannot effectively suppress the shuttle effect under long cycles and high-sulfur-loading conditions .…”

N/P Codoped Carbon Nanofibers Coupled with Chrysanthemum-Like Cobalt Phosphide Hybrid for Stable Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…Currently, polar substances have been intensively introduced into carbonaceous materials to establish chemical anchor sites for immobilizing polysulfides . Transition metal compounds, including metal oxides, − sulfides, − nitrides, and carbides, , have been extensively combined with carbonaceous materials. The above compounds could provide rich active sites to accelerate the conversion kinetics and inhibit the soluble polysulfide shuttle.…”