skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Sulfur encapsulation by MOF-derived CoS 2 embedded in carbon hosts for high-performance Li–S batteries
Li–S batteries have attracted great attention for their combined advantages of potentially high energy density and low cost. To tackle the capacity fade from polysulfide dissolution, we have developed a confinement approach by in situ encapsulating sulfur with a MOF-derived CoS 2 in a carbon framework (S/Z-CoS 2 ), which in turn was derived from a sulfur/ZIF-67 composite (S/ZIF-67) via heat treatment. The formation of CoS 2 was confirmed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and its microstructure and chemical composition were examined through cryogenic scanning/transmission electron microscopy (Cryo-S/TEM) imaging with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). Quantitative EDX suggests that sulfur resides inside the cages, rather than externally. S/hollow ZIF-67-derived CoS 2 (S/H-CoS 2 ) was rationally designed to serve as a control material to explore the efficiency of such hollow structures. Cryo-STEM-EDX mapping indicates that the majority of sulfur in S/H-CoS 2 stays outside of the host, despite its high void volumetric fraction of ∼85%. The S/Z-CoS 2 composite exhibited highly improved battery performance, when compared to both S/ZIF-67 and S/H-CoS 2 , due to both the efficient physical confinement of sulfur inside the host and strong chemical interactions between CoS 2 and sulfur/polysulfides. Electrochemical kinetics investigations revealed that the CoS 2 could serve as an electrocatalyst to accelerate the redox reactions. The composite could provide an areal capacity of 2.2 mA h cm −2 after 150 cycles at 0.2C and 1.5 mA h cm −2 at 1C. This novel material provides valuable insights for further development of high-energy, high-rate and long-life Li–S batteries.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1719875
PAR ID:
10149165
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ; ;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume:
7
Issue:
37
ISSN:
2050-7488
Page Range / eLocation ID:
21128 to 21139
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Materials Chemistry A)
    Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are regarded as one of the most promising next-generation electrochemical cells. However, shuttling of lithium polysulfide intermediates and sluggish kinetics in random deposition of lithium sulfide (Li 2 S) have significantly degraded their capacity, rate and cycling performance. Herein, few-layered MoS 2 nanosheets enriched with sulfur vacancies are anchored inside hollow mesoporous carbon (MoS 2−x /HMC) via S–C bonding and proposed as a novel functional mediator for Li–S batteries. Ultrathin MoS 2 sheets with abundant sulfur vacancies have strong chemical affinity to polysulfides and in the meantime catalyze their fast redox conversion with enhanced reaction kinetics as proved by experimental observations and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations. At a current density of 1C, the MoS 2−x /HMC-S composite cathode exhibits a high initial capacity of 945 mA h g −1 with a high retained capacity of 526 mA h g −1 and a coulombic efficiency of nearly 100% after 500 cycles. The present work sheds light on the design of novel functional electrodes for next-generation electrochemical cells based on a simple yet effective vacancy engineering strategy. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Materials Chemistry A)
    The shuttling of polysulfides with sluggish redox kinetics has severely retarded the advancement of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. In this work oxygen-deficient titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) has been investigated as a novel functional host for Li–S batteries. Experimental and first-principles density functional theory (DFT) studies reveal that oxygen vacancies help to reduce polysulfide shuttling and catalyze the redox kinetics of sulfur/polysulfides during cycling. Consequently, the resulting TiO 2 /S composite cathode manifests superior electrochemical properties in terms of high capacity (1472 mA h g −1 at 0.2C), outstanding rate capability (571 mA h g −1 at 2C), and excellent cycling properties (900 mA h g −1 over 100 cycles at 0.2C). The present strategy offers a viable way through vacancy engineering for the design and optimization of high-performance electrodes for advanced Li–S batteries and other electrochemical devices. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Nanoscale)
    Rechargeable lithium–sulfur batteries have emerged as a viable technology for next generation electrochemical energy storage, and the sulfur cathode plays a critical role in determining the device performance. In this study, we prepared functional composites based on polypyrrole-coated MnO 2 nanotubes as a highly efficient sulfur host (sulfur mass loading 63.5%). The hollow interior of the MnO 2 nanotubes not only allowed for accommodation of volumetric changes of sulfur particles during the cycling process, but also confined the diffusion of lithium polysulfides by physical restriction and chemical adsorption, which minimized the loss of polysulfide species. In addition, the polypyrrole outer layer effectively enhanced the electrical conductivity of the cathode to facilitate ion and electron transport. The as-prepared MnO 2 -PPy-S composite delivered an initial specific capacity of 1469 mA h g −1 and maintained an extremely stable cycling performance, with a small capacity decay of merely 0.07% per cycle at 0.2C within 500 cycles, a high average coulombic efficiency of 95.7% and an excellent rate capability at 470 mA h g −1 at the current density of 3C. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
    Flexible and low-cost poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)-based electrolytes are promising for all-solid-state Li-metal batteries because of their compatibility with a metallic lithium anode. However, the low room-temperature Li-ion conductivity of PEO solid electrolytes and severe lithium-dendrite growth limit their application in high-energy Li-metal batteries. Here we prepared a PEO/perovskite Li 3/8 Sr 7/16 Ta 3/4 Zr 1/4 O 3 composite electrolyte with a Li-ion conductivity of 5.4 × 10 −5 and 3.5 × 10 −4 S cm −1 at 25 and 45 °C, respectively; the strong interaction between the F − of TFSI − (bis-trifluoromethanesulfonimide) and the surface Ta 5+ of the perovskite improves the Li-ion transport at the PEO/perovskite interface. A symmetric Li/composite electrolyte/Li cell shows an excellent cyclability at a high current density up to 0.6 mA cm −2 . A solid electrolyte interphase layer formed in situ between the metallic lithium anode and the composite electrolyte suppresses lithium-dendrite formation and growth. All-solid-state Li|LiFePO 4 and high-voltage Li|LiNi 0.8 Mn 0.1 Co 0.1 O 2 batteries with the composite electrolyte have an impressive performance with high Coulombic efficiencies, small overpotentials, and good cycling stability. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, ChemElectroChem)
    Abstract Developing high performance nonprecious metal‐based electrocatalysts has become a critical first step towards commercial applications of metal‐air batteries. Herein, nanocomposites based on Co/Co2P nanoparticles encapsulated within hierarchically porous N, P, S co‐doped carbon are prepared by controlled pyrolysis of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF‐67) and poly(cyclotriphosphazene‐co‐4,4’‐sulfonyldiphenol) (PZS). The resulting Co/Co2P@NPSC nanocomposites exhibit apparent oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and evolution reaction (OER) catalytic performance, and are used as the reversible oxygen catalyst for zinc‐air batteries (ZABs). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations exhibit that Co2P could provide active sites for the ORR and promote the conversion between the adsorbed intermediates, and porous N,P,S co‐doped carbon with Co2P nanoparticles also improves the exposure of actives sites and endows charge transport. Liquid‐state ZABs with Co/Co2P@NPSC as the cathode catalysts demonstrate the greater power density of 198.1 mW cm−2and a long cycling life of 50 h at 10 mA cm−2, likely due to the encapsulation of Co/Co2P nanoparticles by the carbon shell. Solid‐state ZABs also display a remarkable performance with a high peak power density of 74.3 mW cm−2. Therefore, this study indicates the meaning of the design and engineering of hierarchical porous carbon nanomaterial as electrocatalyst for rechargeable metal‐air batteries. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email