In Situ Self‐Polymerization to Form Hollow Graphitized Carbon Nanocages with Embedded Cobalt Nanoparticles for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur batteries, owing to the multi-electron participation in the redox reaction, possess enormous energy density,w hichh as aroused much attention. Nevertheless, the detrimental shuttlee ffect,v olumee xpansion, and electrical insulation of sulfur,h ave hindered their application. To improvet he cyclability,afunctional host, consisting of Co nanoparticlesa nd N-doped hollow graphitized carbon (Co-NHGC) material, is elaborated, which has the advantages of:1)the graphitized carbon materialw orking as an electronic matrix to improve the utilization rate of sulfur; 2) the hollow structure relieving the stress change caused by volumee xpansion; 3) the rich active sites catalyze the electrochemical reaction of sulfur and entrapp olysulfides. These advantages significantly improvet he performance of the lithium-sulfur batteries. Accordingly,t he S@Co-NHGC cathode exhibits excellent initial specific capacity,h igh coulombic efficiency,a nd excellentr ate performance. Thisw ork utilizes an ovel method of dopaminei ns itue tchingo fa metal-organic framework to synthetize the Co-NHGC host of sulfur,w hich will hopefully provide inspiration for other energy materials.

Recent Progress on Zeolitic Imidazolate Frameworks and Their Derivatives in Alkali Metal–Chalcogen Batteries

“…Other Composite Hosts: ZIF-derived Co/N-co-doped carbon polyhedra can be combined with other materials, including carbon arrays, [132] carbon shells, [133,134] C 60 , [135] CNFs, [136][137][138][139] other metal nanoparticles, [140] metal oxides, [141,142] and metal hydroxides. [143] For example, Kang et al fabricated Co nanoparticle-decorated N-doped carbon nanocages coated with carbon shells, via the high-temperature carbonization of PANcoated ZIF-67 precursor.…”

Engineering Functional Interface with Built‐in Catalytic and Self‐Oxidation Sites for Highly Stable Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…To enhance the utilization of sulfur and the kinetic conversion of LiPS in LiÀ S batteries, many efforts have been devoted to designing sulfur hosts, protecting lithium anode, or modifying separator of LiÀ S batteries. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] Separator as one of the essential component in a working battery can not only separate cathode and anode, but also serve as the ion transfer carriers to ensure the electrochemical process. [19][20][21][22][23] However, the dissolved intermediates in electrolyte could penetrate the conventional separator, resulting into the irreversible capacity decay (such as the dissolved polysulfides) or even short circuit.…”

“…To enhance the utilization of sulfur and the kinetic conversion of LiPS in Li−S batteries, many efforts have been devoted to designing sulfur hosts, protecting lithium anode, or modifying separator of Li−S batteries [10–18] . Separator as one of the essential component in a working battery can not only separate cathode and anode, but also serve as the ion transfer carriers to ensure the electrochemical process [19–23] .…”