Volume 19, Issue 40 2301545
Research Article

Dual-Defect Engineering of Bidirectional Catalyst for High-Performing Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Xiaoya Zhou

Xiaoya Zhou

Key National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093 P. R. China

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Yuchen Cui

Yuchen Cui

Key National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093 P. R. China

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Xin Huang

Xin Huang

Key National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093 P. R. China

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Xin Wu

Xin Wu

Key National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093 P. R. China

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Hao Sun

Corresponding Author

Hao Sun

Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and Zhangjiang Institute for Advanced Study, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240 China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Shaochun Tang

Corresponding Author

Shaochun Tang

Key National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093 P. R. China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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First published: 07 June 2023
Citations: 12

Abstract

Practical applications of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been hindered by sluggish reaction kinetics and severe capacity decay during charge-discharge cycling due to the notorious shuttle effect of polysulfide and the unfavored deposition and dissolution of Li2S. Herein, to address these issues, a double-defect engineering strategy is developed for preparing Co-doped FeP catalyst containing P vacancies on MXene, which effectively improves the bidirectional redox of Li2S. Mechanism analysis indicates that P vacancy accelerates Li2S nucleation via increased unsaturated sites, and Co doping generates local electric field to reduce the reaction energy barrier and accelerate Li2S dissolution. MXene provides highly conductive channels for electron transport, and effectively captures polysulfide. The double-defect catalyst enables an impressive reversible specific capacity of 1297.9 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C, and excellent rate capability of 726.5 mAh g−1 at 4 C. Remarkably, it demonstrates excellent cycling stability with capacity retention of 533.3 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles at 2 C. The results can unlock the double-defect engineering of vacancy induction and heteroatomic doping towards practical Li-S batteries.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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