Improving Polysulfides Adsorption and Redox Kinetics by the Co4 N Nanoparticle/N-Doped Carbon Composites for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Kuikui Xiao; Jin Wang; Zhen Chen; Yuhong Qian; Zheng Liu; Lili Zhang; Xiaohua Chen; Jilei Liu; Xiaofeng Fan; Ze Xiang Shen

doi:10.1002/smll.201901454

Improving Polysulfides Adsorption and Redox Kinetics by the Co₄ N Nanoparticle/N-Doped Carbon Composites for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Small. 2019 Jun;15(25):e1901454. doi: 10.1002/smll.201901454. Epub 2019 May 9.

Authors

Kuikui Xiao^{1

2}, Jin Wang³, Zhen Chen², Yuhong Qian⁴, Zheng Liu^{1

5}, Lili Zhang⁶, Xiaohua Chen¹, Jilei Liu¹, Xiaofeng Fan^{7

8}, Ze Xiang Shen²

Affiliations

¹ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Province Key Laboratory for Advanced Carbon Materials and Applied Technology, Hunan University, Changsha, 410082, China.
² Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637371, Singapore.
³ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 210009, China.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117585, Singapore.
⁵ College of Materials and Chemical Engineering, All-Solid-State Energy Storage Materials and Devices Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan City University, Yiyang, 413002, China.
⁶ Institute of Chemical Engineering and Science, A* Star, 1 Pesek Road, Jurong Island, 627833, Singapore.
⁷ Key Laboratory of Automobile Materials (Jilin University), Ministry of Education, Changchun, 130012, China.
⁸ College of Materials Science and Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, China.

PMID: 31069934
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201901454

Abstract

Improved conductivity and suppressed dissolution of lithium polysulfides is highly desirable for high-performance lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Herein, by a facile solvent method followed by nitridation with NH₃ , a 2D nitrogen-doped carbon structure is designed with homogeneously embedded Co₄ N nanoparticles derived from metal organic framework (MOF), grown on the carbon cloth (MOF-Co₄ N). Experimental results and theoretical simulations reveal that Co₄ N nanoparticles act as strong chemical adsorption hosts and catalysts that not only improve the cycling performance of Li-S batteries via chemical bonding to trap polysulfides but also improve the rate performance through accelerating the conversion reactions by decreasing the polarization of the electrode. In addition, the high conductive nitrogen-doped carbon matrix ensures fast charge transfer, while the 2D structure offers increased pathways to facilitate ion diffusion. Under the current density of 0.1C, 0.5C, and 3C, MOF-Co₄ N delivers reversible specific capacities of 1425, 1049, and 729 mAh g^-1 , respectively, and retains 82.5% capacity after 400 cycles at 1C, as compared to the sample without Co₄ N (MOF-C) values of 61.3% (200 cycles). The improved cell performance corroborates the validity of the multifunctional design of MOF-Co₄ N, which is expected to be a potentially promising cathode host for Li-S batteries.

Keywords: Li-S batteries; catalysts; chemical adsorption; metal nitrides; multifunctional.

Abstract

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