Lithium−sulfur batteries (LSBs) are of great interest as a promising energy storage device because of their high theoretical capacity and energy density. However, they exhibit poor discharge capacity and capacity retention during long-term cycling because of their inherent drawbacks including the poor conductivity of sulfur and lithium sulfide, the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs), and the large volume expansion of sulfur to lithium sulfide. An effective approach that can solve these problems is to use an interlayer inserted between the separator and the cathode. Nevertheless, the underlying adsorption mechanism of LiPSs on the interlayer has not yet been widely investigated. Herein, the effect of lithium bond chemistry on the adsorption of LiPSs on the functionalized carbon fiber paper (CFP) interlayer containing hydroxyl, carboxyl, or amide functional groups is investigated by a density functional theory approach. It is found that the functionalized CFP exhibits a strong lithium bond interaction between the Li electron acceptor of LiPSs and the N or O electron donor of the functionalized CFP interlayer. In addition, the correlation between the adsorption energy of LiPSs on the interlayer and the electrochemical performance of LSBs is investigated. The results provide the fundamental understanding of the structure−property relationship for the adsorption of LiPSs on the functional groups of the interlayer, which will be beneficial for the further development of advanced LSBs.

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We design the Janus-like interlayer with two different functional faces for suppressing the shuttle of soluble lithium polysulfides (LPSs) in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). At the front face, the conductive functionalized carbon fiber paper (f-CFP) having oxygen-containing groups i.e., -OH and -COOH on its surface was placed face to face with the sulfur cathode serving as the first barrier accommodating the volume expansion during cycling process and the oxygen-containing groups can also adsorb the soluble LPSs via lithium bonds. At the back face, a crystalline coordination network of [Zn(H2PO4)2(TzH)2]n (ZnPTz) was coated on the back side of f-CFP serving as the second barrier retarding the left LPSs passing through the front face via both physical confinement and chemical adsorption (i.e. Li bonding). The LSB using the Janus-like interlayer exhibits a high reversible discharge capacity of 1,416 mAh g−1 at 0.1C with a low capacity fading of 0.05% per cycle, 92% capacity retention after 200 cycles and ca. 100% coulombic efficiency. The fully charged LSB cell can practically supply electricity to a spinning motor with a nominal voltage of 3.0 V for 28 min demonstrating many potential applications.

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The original version of this Article contained a typographical error in the spelling of the author Sanjog S. Nagarkar, which was incorrectly given as Sanjog Nagarkar. This has now been corrected in the PDF and HTML versions of the Article, and in the accompanying Supporting Information file.