Atomically Dispersed Fe-N₄ Sites and Fe₃C Particles Catalyzing Polysulfides Conversion in Li-S Batteries

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries have been puzzled by the “shuttle effect”. In the recent years, catalytic materials present a huge potential for solving this problem. However, the exploitation for catalytic activity was still challenging in Li-S batteries. In this article, we put forward a single atom catalyst (SAC) of FeN₄ coupled with Fe₃C on the N-doped carbon (FeN₄/Fe₃C@NC) by one-step pyrolysis method. The FeN₄ and Fe₃C synergistically catalyze the polysulfides conversion when the N-doped carbon provides the high conductive three-dimensional skeleton in Li-S batteries. As a result, the FeN₄/Fe₃C@NC shows a specific capacity of 1100 mA·h/g at 0.2 C(1 C=1675 mA/g). In addition, the FeN₄/Fe₃C@NC maintains 99.01% of the pristine specific capacity after 100 cycles at 0.5 C, indicating the improved electrochemical performance in Li-S batteries. This work sheds new lights on the design of engineering catalysts for developing high-performance Li-S batteries.

Keywords

FeN₄ / Fe₃C / Li-S battery / Shuttle effect

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