Multifunctional α-MoO3 Nanobelt Interlayer with the Capacity Compensation Effect for High-Energy Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Xin-Yang Yue; Jing Zhang; Dong Chen; Xue-Jiao Xu; Hai-Tao Wu; Yong-Ning Zhou; Zheng Liang

doi:10.1021/acsami.2c22200

Multifunctional α-MoO₃ Nanobelt Interlayer with the Capacity Compensation Effect for High-Energy Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Mar 15;15(10):13064-13072. doi: 10.1021/acsami.2c22200. Epub 2023 Feb 28.

Authors

Xin-Yang Yue^{1

2}, Jing Zhang³, Dong Chen², Xue-Jiao Xu¹, Hai-Tao Wu⁴, Yong-Ning Zhou², Zheng Liang¹

Affiliations

¹ Frontiers Science Center for Transformative Molecules, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
² Department of Materials Science, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory for Chemical Power Source and Green Catalysis, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Life Sciences, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215009, China.

PMID: 36854109
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c22200

Abstract

Spatial hindrance of lithium polysulfide (LiPS) diffusion by inserting a barrier interlayer has been deemed as an effective strategy to restrict the shuttle effect in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). However, the extra interlayer without reversible capacity production inevitably reduces the actual energy density of the battery. Herein, a freestanding α-MoO₃ nanobelt interlayer with the decoration of TiN nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes (denoted as MCT) is established. To investigate the capacity compensation effect of the MCT during cell operations, X-ray absorption near-edge spectrometry is conducted. It is revealed that MoO₃ can sustain a reversible Li intercalation/deintercalation in a voltage range of 1.8-2.8 V, providing 180 mAh g^-1 of extra capacity for compensating sulfur cathode. In addition, the adsorption of the lithiated α-MoO₃ toward LiPSs is further evaluated. By matching a high-loading sulfur cathode (3.0 mg cm^-2), a superior capacity of 713.3 mAh g^-1 can be retained after 100 cycles under the MCT assistance.

Keywords: MoO3; barrier interlayer; capacity compensation; polysulfide; sulfur cathode.