Enhanced sulfur redox kinetics by hollow structured NiCo2O4 entangled with acidified MWCNTs for lithium sulfur batteries

Although lithium-sulfur battery is considered to be a competitive system for efficient energy storage, the shuttle effect of polysulfides and sluggish electrode reaction kinetics still hinder its practical application. Herein, we synthesized acidified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (AMWCNT)/NiCo2O4@S as an efficient cathode material for lithium-sulfur batteries. The AMWCNT skeleton can be used as an electron conductivity enhancer and physico-chemical adsorption sites for polysulfides, and the hollow structured NiCo2O4 spheres can not only accommodate the volume change during cycling, but also accelerate the redox kinetics and suppress the shuttle effect. Thus, the AMWCNT/NiCo2O4@S cathode delivers an initial capacity of 958.8 mAh.g(-1) at 0.5 C, and the capacity remains 700.3 mAh.g(-1) with a low capacity decay rate of 0.090% per cycle after 300 cycles. The unique structure design provides a potential host material for the high-capacity and -stability lithium-sulfur batteries. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

The use of acidified multi-walled carbon nanotubes (AMWCNT)/NiCo2O4@S as cathode material in lithium-sulfur batteries improves the capacity and stability of the batteries.