Synthesis of TiC Nanoparticles Anchored on Hollow Carbon Nanospheres for Enhanced Polysulfide Adsorption in Li-S Batteries

A novel spatial confinement strategy based on a carbon/TiO2/carbon sandwich structure is proposed to synthesize TiC nanoparticles anchored on hollow carbon nanospheres (TiC@C) through a carbothermal reduction reaction. During the synthesis process, two carbon layers not only serve as reductant to convert TiO2 into TiC nanoparticles, but also create a spatial confinement to suppress the aggregation of TiO2, resulting in the formation of well-dispersed TiC nanoparticles. This unique TiC@C structure shows an outstanding long-term cycling stability at high rates owing to the strong physical and chemical adsorption of lithium polysulfides (i.e., a high capacity of 732.6 mAhg(-1) at 1600 mAg(-1)) and it retains a capacity of 443.2 mAhg(-1) after 1000 cycles, corresponding to a decay rate of only 0.0395% per cycle. Therefore, this unique TiC@C composite could be considered as an important candidate for the cathode material in Li-S batteries.