Revealing the synergistic mechanism of multiply nanostructured V2O3 hollow nanospheres integrated with doped N, Ni heteroatoms, in-situ grown carbon nanotubes and coated carbon nanolayers for the enhancement of lithium-sulfur batteries

Yahui Luo; Zhiyong Ouyang; Yang Lin; Xueyou Song; Song He; Jie Zhao; Yanhe Xiao; Shuijin Lei; Cailei Yuan; Baochang Cheng

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.193

Revealing the synergistic mechanism of multiply nanostructured V₂O₃ hollow nanospheres integrated with doped N, Ni heteroatoms, in-situ grown carbon nanotubes and coated carbon nanolayers for the enhancement of lithium-sulfur batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Apr 15:612:760-771. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.193. Epub 2022 Jan 6.

Authors

Yahui Luo¹, Zhiyong Ouyang², Yang Lin², Xueyou Song¹, Song He¹, Jie Zhao¹, Yanhe Xiao¹, Shuijin Lei¹, Cailei Yuan³, Baochang Cheng⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330031, PR China.
² Nanoscale Science and Technology Laboratory, Institute for Advanced Study, Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330031, PR China.
³ Jiangxi Key Laboratory of Nanomaterials and Sensors, School of Physics, Communication and Electronics, Jiangxi Normal University, Jiangxi 330022, China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330031, PR China; Nanoscale Science and Technology Laboratory, Institute for Advanced Study, Nanchang University, Jiangxi 330031, PR China. Electronic address: bcheng@vip.sina.com.

PMID: 35030347
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.193

Abstract

Lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries are regarded as one of the most promising future energy storage candidates on account of high theoretical specific capacity of 1675 mAh g^-1 and energy density of 2600 Wh kg^-1. However, their practical application is seriously hindered due to the poor conductivity and volume expansion of sulfur, the weak redox kinetics of lithium polysulfide (LPS), and the severe shuttle effect of LPS. Herein, V₂O₃@N,Ni-C nanostructures, multiply integrated with zero-dimensional (0D) V₂O₃ nanoparticles, 1D carbon nanotubes, 2D carbon coating layers and graphene, 3D hollow spheres, and doped N and Ni heteroatoms, were synthesized via a solvothermal method followed by chemical vapor deposition. After being used as a modifier for traditional commercial separator of Li-S batteries, the shuttle effect of LPS can be effectively suppressed owing to the abundant active physical and chemical adsorption sites derived from large specific surface area, rich porosity, and tremendous polarity of the V₂O₃ nanoparticles with multiple secondary nanostructure integration. Meanwhile, the transfer of Li⁺ ions and electrons can be effectively enhanced by the highly conductive 2D carbon network, and the kinetics of redox reaction (Li₂S_n ↔ Li₂S) can be accelerated by the doped N and Ni heteroatoms, leading to a synergistic promotion on the reutilization of the adsorbed LPS. Additionally, the unique 3D hollow structure can not only enhance the penetration of electrolyte, but also buffer the volume expansion of sulfur to some extent. Therefore, the rate capacity and cycling performance can be significantly enhanced by the multifunction synergism of adsorption, conductivity, catalysis, and volume buffering. An initial discharge capacity of 1590.4 mAh g^-1can be achieved at 0.1C, and the discharge capacity of 803.5 mAh g^-1can be still exhibited when increasing to 2C. After a long period of 500 cycles, additionally, the discharge specific capacity of 1142.2 mAh g^-1 and capacity attenuation of 0.0617% per cycle can be obtained at 1C.

Keywords: Integrated nanostructures; Lithium-sulfur batteries; Modified separator; Multifunction synergism.