Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted widespread attention due to their high theoretical energy density. However, their practical application is still hindered by the shuttle effect and the sluggish conversion of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Herein, monodisperse molybdenum (Mo) nanoparticles embedded onto nitrogen-doped graphene (Mo@N-G) were developed and used as a highly efficient electrocatalyst to enhance LiPS conversion. The weight ratio of the electrocatalyst in the catalyst/sulfur cathode is only 9%. The unfilled d orbitals of oxidized Mo can attract the electrons of LiPS anions and form Mo–S bonds during the electrochemical process, thus facilitating fast conversion of LiPSs. Li-S batteries based on the Mo@N-G/S cathode can exhibit excellent rate performance, large capacity, and superior cycling stability. Moreover, Mo@N-G also plays an important role in room-temperature quasi-solid-state Li-S batteries. These interesting findings suggest the great potential of Mo nanoparticles in building high-performance Li-S batteries.

In the large field of research on nanoplatelets (NPLs), their strong tendency to self-assemble into ordered stacks and the resulting changes in their properties are of great interest. The assembly reveals new characteristics such as the charge carrier transport through the NPL assembly or altered optical properties. In particular, a reduced distance should enhance the charge carrier transport due to higher electronic coupling of neighboring NPLs, and therefore, is the focus of this work. To modify the inter-particle distances, the straightforward method of ligand exchange is applied. Various CdSe and CdSe/CdX (hetero-) NPLs serve as building blocks, which not only display different material combinations but also different types of heterostructures. The surface-to-surface distance between the stacked NPLs can be reduced to below 1 nm, thus, to less than the half compared to assemblies of pristine NPLs. Moreover, for certain NPLs stacking is only enabled by the ligand exchange. To characterize the ligand exchanges and to investigate the influences of the reduced distances, photo-electrochemical measurements, fluorescence spectroscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy are performed. It is possible to show higher photocurrents for smaller distances, indicating enhanced charge transport ability within those stacks.

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