Journal
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
Volume 1, Issue 45, Pages 14280-14285Publisher
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY
DOI: 10.1039/c3ta13430j
Keywords
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Funding
- National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) [2014CB239701]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [21173120, 51372116]
- Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province [BK2011030]
- Jiangsu Innovation Program for Graduate Education [CXZZ13_0158]
- Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in NUAA [BCXJ13-13]
- Graduate Innovation Center in NUAA [kfjj120209]
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Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are receiving intense interest because of their high theoretical energy density. However, rapid capacity fading is a significant problem facing its practical realization. Here we present the fabrication of a sandwich structured electrode by confining elemental sulfur in a TiO2 nanocrystal (3-5 nm) decorated graphene nanosheet host (graphene/TiO2). Elemental sulfur occupies the inter-particle mesopores of the TiO2 nanocrystal layer and is in intimate contact with the graphene. The sandwich structured graphene/TiO2/S electrode exhibits enhanced cycling stability with high specific capacity and high Coulombic efficiency. The enhanced electrochemical performance is highly related to the well-defined sandwich structure and the in situ formation of a mixed ionic/electronic conductor (LixTiO2). The sandwich structure could favor rapid diffusion of the electrolyte during the charge-discharge process. Pore absorption of the graphene/TiO2 host and the on-site adsorption of the TiO2 nanocrystals could alleviate the dissolution and shuttling of the polysulfides. More importantly, the in situ formed LixTiO2 works synergistically with the highly conductive graphene layer to facilitate easier Li+/e(-) transport. The sandwich structure plus the unique functions of the graphene/TiO2 host conceptually provide new opportunities to achieve the long-term cycling stability of a sulfur electrode.
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