Triple-phase interfaces of graphene-like carbon clusters on antimony trisulfide nanowires enable high-loading and long-lasting liquid Li2S6-based lithium-sulfur batteries

High performance of lithium-sulfur batteries have been dragged down by their shuttling behavior which is complicated multiphase transition-based 16-electron redox reactions of the S-8/Li2S. In this article, the triple-phase interfaces of graphene-like carbon clusters on antimony trisulfide (C-Sb2S3) nanowires are tailored to design a multifunctional polysulfide host which can inhibit migration of polysulfides and accelerate conversion kinetics of redox electrochemical reactions. Benefiting from the triple-interface design of polysulfides/Sb2S3/carbon clusters, the C-Sb2S3 electrode not only anchors polysulfide migration by the synergistic effect of Sb, S, and C atoms as interfacial active sites, but also the graphene-like carbon clusters shorten the diffusion paths to further favor redox electron/ion transport through the liquid (elec-trolyte/polysulfide) and solid (Li2S/S-8, carbon clusters, and Sb2S3)-based triple-phases. Therefore, these Li2S6-based C-Sb2S3 cells possess high sulfur loading, excellent cycling stability, impressive specific capacity, and great rate capability. This work of interfacial engineering reveals insight for powering reac-tion kinetics in the complicated multistep catalysis reaction with multiphase evolution-based charge-transfer/non-transfer processes. (C) 2020 Science Press and Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. and Science Press. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This research successfully improved the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries by designing a multifunctional polysulfide host to inhibit polysulfide migration and accelerate redox reactions. The triple-phase interface design anchored polysulfide migration and shortened diffusion paths, facilitating electron/ion transport.