Single-Atom Cobalt Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Three-Dimensional Carbon Facilitating Polysulfide Conversion in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Yichen Wang; Chunsheng Shi; Junwei Sha; Liying Ma; Enzuo Liu; Naiqin Zhao

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c02713

Single-Atom Cobalt Supported on Nitrogen-Doped Three-Dimensional Carbon Facilitating Polysulfide Conversion in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022 Jun 8;14(22):25337-25347. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c02713. Epub 2022 May 23.

Authors

Yichen Wang¹, Chunsheng Shi¹, Junwei Sha¹, Liying Ma¹, Enzuo Liu^{1

2}, Naiqin Zhao^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Composite and Functional Materials, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
² Collaborative Innovation Centre of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin 300072, China.

PMID: 35605282
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c02713

Abstract

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have demonstrated catalytic efficacy toward lithium polysulfide conversion in Li-S batteries. However, achieving high-density M-N_x sites with rational design by a simple method is still challenging to date. Herein, an ultrathin porous 3D carbon-supported single-atom catalyst (SACo/NDC) is synthesized with a salt-template strategy via a facile freeze-drying and one-step pyrolysis procedure and serves well as a sulfur host. The well-defined 3D carbon structure can effectively alleviate volume stress and confine polysulfides inside. Moreover, the dispersed Co-N_x sites exhibit strong chemical adsorption function and valid catalytic efficiency to LiPSs redox conversion. As a result, the SACo/NDC cathodes display enhanced long-term cycling stability and better rate capability.

Keywords: Li−S battery; electrocatalysis; nitrogen doping; porous 3D carbon; single-atom catalysts; soluble salt template.