Sulfur composites consisting of electrochemical reactive catalysts/conductive materials are investigated for use in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries (LSBs). In this paper, we report the synthesis, physicochemical and electrochemical properties of CuZnS quantum dots (CZSQDs) decorated with nickel-cobalt-sulfide ((NiCo)-S)) mixed with reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/oxidized carbon nanotube (oxdCNT) (rGO/oxdCNT) ((NiCo)-S@rGO/oxdCNT) composites. These composites are for the purpose of being the sulfur host cathode in Li-S batteries. The as-prepared composites showed a porous structure with the CZSQDs being uniformly found on the surface of the rGO/oxdCNT, which had a specific surface area of 26.54 m2/g. Electrochemical studies indicated that the (NiCo)-S@rGO/oxdCNT cells forming the cathode exhibited a maximum capacity of 1154.96 mAhg-1 with the initial discharge at 0.1 C. The smaller size of the CZSQDs (~10 nm) had a positive effect on the CZSQDs@(NiCo)-S@rGO/oxdCNT composites in that they had a higher initial discharge capacity of 1344.18 mAhg-1 at 0.1 C with the Coulombic efficiency being maintained at almost 97.62% during cycling. This latter property is approximately 1.16 times more compared to the absence of the Cu-Zn-S QD loading. This study shows that the CuZnS quantum dots decorated with a (NiCo)-S@rGO/oxdCNT supporting matrix-based sulfur cathode have the potential to improve the performance of future lithium-sulfur batteries.
Keywords: conductive carbon materials; lithium–sulfur batteries; metal sulfides; quantum dots; sulfur host.