Cobalt nanoparticles & nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes@hollow carbon with high catalytic ability for high-performance lithium sulfur batteries

Zhao Kong; Hongyuan Xu; Guanghui Xu; Siyu Jin; Yihong Tong; Jiawei Li; Yilu Bai; Hong Jin; Weiwei Cai; Hui Xu

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.017

Cobalt nanoparticles & nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes@hollow carbon with high catalytic ability for high-performance lithium sulfur batteries

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2023 Oct 15:648:846-854. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.017. Epub 2023 Jun 9.

Authors

Zhao Kong¹, Hongyuan Xu¹, Guanghui Xu¹, Siyu Jin², Yihong Tong¹, Jiawei Li¹, Yilu Bai³, Hong Jin⁴, Weiwei Cai⁵, Hui Xu⁶

Affiliations

¹ Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou Academy, Suzhou 215123, China; Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, China.
² Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou Academy, Suzhou 215123, China; Sustainable Energy Laboratory, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
³ Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou Academy, Suzhou 215123, China.
⁴ Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou Academy, Suzhou 215123, China; Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, China. Electronic address: jhjinhong@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
⁵ Sustainable Energy Laboratory, Faculty of Materials Science and Chemistry, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China. Electronic address: caiww@cug.edu.cn.
⁶ Xi'an Jiaotong University, Suzhou Academy, Suzhou 215123, China; Nano Science and Technology Institute, University of Science and Technology of China, Suzhou 215123, China. Electronic address: xhxuhui@xjtu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37327627
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2023.06.017

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery has been considered as a potential next-era energy storage device. However, its practical application is limited by the volume change of sulfur and the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides. To effectively overcome these issues, a hollow carbon decorated with cobalt nanoparticles and interconnected by nitrogen doped carbon nanotubes (Co-NCNT@HC) is developed for high-performance Li-S battery. The uniformly distributed nitrogen and cobalt nanoparticles in Co-NCNT@HC are able to enhance the chemical adsorption capability and fasten the transformation speed of the intermediates, thus effectively inhibit the loss of lithium polysulfides. Moreover, the hollow carbon spheres interconnected by carbon nanotubes are structurally stable and electrically conductive. Due to the unique structure, the Li-S battery enhanced by Co-NCNT@HC shows a high initial capacity of 1550 mAh/g at 0.1 A g^-1. Even at a high current density of 2.0 A g^-1, after 1000 cycles, it still maintains a capacity of 750 mAh/g with a capacity retention of 76.4% (the capacity decay rate is only 0.037% per cycle). This study provides a promising strategy for the development of high-performance Li-S batteries.

Keywords: Catalytic activity; Co-NCNT@HC; Lithium polysulfides; Lithium-sulfur batteries; Shuttle effect.