Multifunctional sulfur-immobilizing GO/MXene aerogels for highly-stable and long-cycle-life lithium–sulfur batteries

• Published in: Rare metals 2023-08, Vol.42 (8), p.2577-2591
• Main Authors: Yang, Wen-Hao, Ni, Zhi-Cong, You, Dan, Hou, Ji-Yue, Deng, Bing-Nan, Huang, Rong-Wei, Sun, Shi-Gang, Zhao, Jin-Bao, Li, Xue, Zhang, Yi-Yong, Zhang, Ying-Jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aerogels; Biomaterials; Chemical reactions; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electron transport; Energy; Energy storage; Graphene; Lithium ions; Lithium sulfur batteries; Materials Engineering; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; MXenes; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Original Article; Physical Chemistry; Polysulfides; Redox reactions
• ISSN: 1001-0521; 1867-7185
• DOI: 10.1007/s12598-023-02272-6

Lithium-sulfur batteries are a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage due to their high theoretical energy density. However, S insulation and the lithium polysulfide intermediate's shuttle effect greatly hinder its practical application. In this paper, a three-dimensional porous graphene oxide (GO)/MXene (Ti 3 C 2 T x ) (GM) aerogel is designed and applied to a lithium–sulfur battery to settle the problem mentioned. In this strategy, two-dimensional (2D) GO sheets and highly conductive MXene nanosheets are integrated to form a 3D porous aerogel structure, creating a 3D conductive network and large polar surfaces, which can simultaneously achieve fast Li-ion/electron transport, strong chemical anchoring sulfur, and promot redox reactions between polysulfides. Therefore, the cathode shows excellent sulfur utilization and cycle stability. The prepared GM electrode battery has been tested for nearly nine months at 0.1C, providing the high initial capacity of 1255.62 mAh·g −1 and maintaining 615.7 mAh·g −1 after 450 cycles. Graphical abstract