Tantalum-Based Electrocatalyst for Polysulfide Catalysis and Retention for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

A new tantalum-based electrocatalyst for the lithium-sulfur system is developed to overcome some key challenges in lithium-sulfur batteries. Efficient crystallinity tuning is realized via a pore-constriction mechanism in the ''ship in a bottle'' nanostructure, which offers abundant polysulfide-retaining and catalytically active sites. Oxygen vacancies in tantalum oxide manipulating electron structure with increased intrinsic conductivity function as catalytic centers to accelerate sulfur redox reactions. Excellent rate capability and cycling stability are achieved at practically relevant sulfur loadings and electrolyte content.

Strain Engineering of a MXene/CNT Hierarchical Porous Hollow Microsphere Electrocatalyst for a High‐Efficiency Lithium Polysulfide Conversion Process

“…The Li 2 S 6 @TS‐Ti 3 C 2 /CNT spectra shows an obvious shift of S T −1 and S B 0 peaks compared with the fresh Li 2 S 6 , demonstrating the reduction of sulfur electron cloud density and strong chemical adsorption obtained by TS‐Ti 3 C 2 /CNT [25] . Besides, two distinct peaks appeared in the high BE region can be attributed to the generation of sulfate and thiosulfate, which is also essential for realizing the fast‐kinetic reaction of polysulfide conversion [26] …”

“…[25] Besides,t wo distinct peaks appeared in the high BE region can be attributed to the generation of sulfate and thiosulfate, which is also essential for realizing the fast-kinetic reaction of polysulfide conversion. [26] Further to the adsorption effect, the favorable chemical interaction of sulfur immobilizer as well as the corresponding potential kinetic improvement by the synergy of strain engineering and robust architecture design were also revealed, as shown in Figure 4d-f and the Supporting Information, Figure S12. TheL i 2 S 6 symmetrical cells of TS-Ti 3 C 2 electrode delivers the higher current response and smaller potential hysteresis than that of Ti 3 C 2 electrode for redox reaction, indicating its stronger ability to catalyze the LiPS conversion owing to the strain effect of the TS-Ti 3 C 2 .I n addition, the TS-Ti 3 C 2 /CNT electrode exhibits the highest current response with the smallest potential hysteresis, suggesting the best catalytic activity of the TS-Ti 3 C 2 /CNT.…”

Emerging Catalysts to Promote Kinetics of Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…Panels (b,c) reproduced with permission. [ 163 ] Copyright 2020, Elsevier. d) TEM and HRTEM images of black phosphorus quantum dots (BPQDs) with monodispersion and high crystallinity.…”

“…Along this line, Chen and co‐workers achieved in situ growth of ultrafine Ta 2 O 5− x nanoclusters (1.2 nm) in microporous carbon nanosphere using a wet‐impregnation strategy (Figure 16b). [ 163 ] With the merits of micropores, the unique structure liked “ship in a bottle” was elaborately constructed as an efficient 3D conductive nanoreactor, in which the Ta 2 O 5− x nanoclusters were uniformly filled in the microporous carbon (Figure 16c). This structure possessed two major advantages, including 1) a high specific surface area of the active material (Ta 2 O 5− x ) was obtained to provide abundant active sites for the fixation and catalytic conversion of LiPSs, 2) agglomeration and shedding of nanoclusters were effectively inhibited in the catalytic reaction process, potentially solving the stability problem of nanomaterials.…”

Bioinspired nano-ordered liquid membrane for precise molecular separation

“…This work opens up a novel and e cient avenue to worldwide challenging ethylene/ethane separation, and the methodology that manipulating directional distribution of silver ions to construct fast transport nanochannels will shed light on design advanced membrane materials in separations, catalyst and battery applications. 48,49 Results And Discussions Membrane design and morphology characterization. The bioinspired nano-ordered liquid membranes are constructed from ion/molecule self-assembly strategy to imitate the structure of cellular membrane.…”