One-step synthesis of titanium nitride/nitrogen-doped graphene nanocomposite as separator modifying material for advanced lithium-sulfur batteries

Titanium nitride and nitrogen-doped graphene are widely used in lithium-sulfur batteries due to their excellent electronic conductivity and the ability to suppress polysulfides migration. However, complex and time-consuming preparation methods limit their practical applications. Therefore, we report the fabrication of titanium nitride/nitrogen-doped graphene (TiN/NG) nanocomposite as separator modifying material via a one-step solid state reaction. This unique structure of TiN/NG, in which ultrafine TiN nanoparticles are homogeneously distributed on the nitrogen-doped graphene skeleton, is favorable for the adsorption and conversion of polysulfides. As a result, the lithium-sulfur batteries with TiN/NG modified separator exhibit the excellent initial discharge capacity (1501 mAh/g at 0.1C) and long-term cycling stability (718 mAh/g at 1C, after 300 cycles). (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier B.V.