Self-Standing Lotus Root-Like Host Materials for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Jin Luo; Xuefeng Liu; Wen Lei; Quanli Jia; Shaowei Zhang; Haijun Zhang

doi:10.1007/s42765-022-00206-y

Advanced Fiber Materials ›› 2022, Vol. 4 ›› Issue (6) : 1656 -1668. DOI: 10.1007/s42765-022-00206-y

Research Article

Self-Standing Lotus Root-Like Host Materials for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

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¹The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, 430081, Wuhan, Hubei, China

²Henan Key Laboratory of High Temperature Functional Ceramics, Zhengzhou University, 450052, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

³College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, EX4 4QF, Exeter, UK

^c leiwen@wust.edu.cn

^f zhanghaijun@wust.edu.cn

Jin Luo

received his B.S. degree from University of Jinan in 2018. He is currently pursuing his master degree at Wuhan University of Science and Technology. His research interests focus on electrospinning and the design of cathodes for lithium-sulfur batteries.

Xuefeng Liu

is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Materials and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology. He received his master’s degree in 2020 from Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute. His research direction focus on the design of high entropy oxide materials for secondary batteries.

Wen Lei

is an Associate Professor at The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2018. His current research interests are electrochemical energy storage materials and devices.

Quanli Jia

is an Associate Professor of Henan Key Laboratory of High Temperature Functional Ceramics, Zhengzhou University. He received his Ph.D. Degree from Zhengzhou University in 2010. Currently, his research interests are one-dimensional nanomaterials and refractories.

Shaowei Zhang

is currently Professor and Royal Society Industry Fellow in the College of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences at University of Exeter, UK. His main research interests are low temperature fabrication of nanomaterials, novel synthesis of 2-D quantum dots, exploration of 2-D nanocatalysts, and preparation of porous ceramics and ceramic matrix composites.

Haijun Zhang

is a Professor at The State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology. He received his Ph.D. degree from University of Science and Technology Beijing in 1999. His research interests include refractories, high-temperature ceramics and nanostructured materials, from fundamental scientific understanding to functional applications.

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Abstract

The structure of sulfur host materials plays a key role in alleviating the shuttle effect, volume expansion and sluggish redox reaction of lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). In this work, the well-designed multichannel carbon fibers decorated by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and CoS nanoparticles (MCF/CoS/CNT) are synthesized and serve as the flexible sulfur host. The in situ grown CNTs network and embedded CoS enhance the overall conductivity of electrode and facilitate the redox reaction of sulfur-related electrochemistry. Benefitting from these merits, the MCF/CoS/CNT-based cathode exhibits a high reversible capacity of 927 mAh g⁻¹ after 180 cycles with a low decay of 0.034% per cycle at 1.0 C. A superb areal capacity of 5.2 mAh cm⁻² could be obtained under a high sulfur loading of 6.3 mg cm⁻² and an ultralow electrolyte/sulfur ratio of 6.5 μL mg⁻¹ after 100 cycles. This work offers a promising approach to the reasonable design of flexible sulfur host for LSBs toward high energy density.

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Jin Luo, Xuefeng Liu, Wen Lei, Quanli Jia, Shaowei Zhang, Haijun Zhang. Self-Standing Lotus Root-Like Host Materials for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries. Advanced Fiber Materials, 2022, 4(6): 1656-1668 DOI:10.1007/s42765-022-00206-y