TiN as a simple and efficient polysulfide immobilizer for lithium–sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries are believed to be potential next-generation electrochemical devices which will satisfy the increasing market demands due to their high energy density, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, the practical application of Li-S batteries is still hindered by poor cyc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Materials for energy and sustainability, 2016-01, Vol.4 (45), p.17711-17717
Main Authors: Hao, Zhangxiang, Yuan, Lixia, Chen, Chaoji, Xiang, Jingwei, Li, Yuyu, Huang, Zhimei, Hu, Pei, Huang, Yunhui
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemisorption
Electronics
Energy density
Lithium sulfur batteries
Markets
Polysulfides
Sulfur
Titanium nitride
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Summary:Lithium-sulfur batteries are believed to be potential next-generation electrochemical devices which will satisfy the increasing market demands due to their high energy density, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, the practical application of Li-S batteries is still hindered by poor cycle stability and rate capability caused by the low electronic conductivity of sulfur and dissolution of intermediate polysulfides. Here, we employ easily-obtained titanium nitride (TiN) as a highly efficient immobilizer to trap polysulfides via a chemical mechanism. TiN also possesses high electronic conductivity which helps in achieving a high sulfur utility and an excellent rate capability. At 0.5C, the TiN-based sulfur composite cathode demonstrates a high initial reversible capacity of 1012 mA h g-1 and a long cycle life of over 200 cycles with a decay rate of 0.2% per cycle. Even at 5C, the reversible discharge capacity is still higher than 550 mA h g-1. The outstanding electrochemical performance is ascribed to the strong chemisorption effect between TiN and polysulfides.
ISSN:2050-7488
2050-7496
DOI:10.1039/c6ta07411a