ZIF-67 on Sulfur-Functionalized Graphene Oxide for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Mingqi Xu; Tong Wang; Haijun Wang; Yunliang Wang; Shuxian Li; Jingwen Sun; Jingquan Sha

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03998

ZIF-67 on Sulfur-Functionalized Graphene Oxide for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Inorg Chem. 2023 Feb 20;62(7):3134-3140. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03998. Epub 2023 Feb 8.

Authors

Mingqi Xu^{1

2}, Tong Wang¹, Haijun Wang³, Yunliang Wang², Shuxian Li², Jingwen Sun³, Jingquan Sha¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Jining University, Qufu, Shandong 273155, P. R. China.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, and School of Pharmacy, Jiamusi University, Jiamusi 154007, P. R. China.
³ School of Pharmacy, Qiqihar Medical University, Qiqihar 161006, P. R. China.

PMID: 36753423
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.2c03998

Abstract

How to overcome the problem of fast capacity fading and low sulfur utilization is the key to promote the practical applications of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Based on the fact that sulfur-functionalized graphene oxide (GO-S) can avoid the loss of sulfur/polysulfides through the strong C-S interaction, and the zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF-67) can capture sulfur and catalyze lithium polysulfide (Li₂S_x, 4 ≤ x ≤ 8), the combination of ZIF-S (ZIF-67 after combining with sulfur) with GO-S can be expected to be an excellent electrode material for Li-S batteries due to the synergistic effect. Herein, ZIF-S@GO-S (n) nanocomposites (n = 1, 2, and 3 for the mass ratio of ZIF-67/GO of 4:1, 6:1, and 8:1, respectively) as the cathode materials in Li-S batteries were successfully fabricated, and ZIF-S@GO-S (2) showed better electrochemical performances and cycle stability with a high specific capacity of 1529.5 mA h g^-1 at the initial cycle and 792 mA h g^-1 after 500 cycles at 0.1 C (1 C = 1675 mA h g^-1). The fact that ZIF-S@GO-S (n) can simultaneously improve the conductivity and utilization of S (C-S···S₈ and C-S···S_xLi₂) and the conversion kinetics of Li₂S_x (4 ≤ x ≤ 8) provides a new avenue for designing and fabricating promising cathodes for high-performance Li-S batteries.