Construction of Co3O4/ZnO Heterojunctions in Hollow N-Doped Carbon Nanocages as Microreactors for Lithium-Sulfur Full Batteries

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are promising alternatives of conventional Li-ion batteries attributed to their remarkable energy densities and high sustainability. However, the practical applications of Li-S batteries are hindered by the shuttling effect of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) on cathode and the Li dendrite formation on anode, which together leads to inferior rate capability and cycling stability. Here, an advanced N-doped carbon microreactors embedded with abundant Co3O4/ZnO heterojunctions (CZO/HNC) are designed as dual-functional hosts for synergistic optimization of both S cathode and Li metal anode. Electrochemical characterization and theoretical calculations confirm that CZO/HNC exhibits an optimized band structure that effectively facilitates ion diffusion and promotes bidirectional LiPSs conversion. In addition, the lithiophilic nitrogen dopants and Co3O4/ZnO sites together regulate dendrite-free Li deposition. The S@CZO/HNC cathode exhibits excellent cycling stability at 2 C with only 0.039% capacity fading per cycle over 1400 cycles, and the symmetrical Li@CZO/HNC cell enables stable Li plating/striping behavior for 400 h. Remarkably, Li-S full cell using CZO/HNC as both cathode and anode hosts shows an impressive cycle life of over 1000 cycles. This work provides an exemplification of designing high-performance heterojunctions for simultaneous protection of two electrodes, and will inspire the applications of practical Li-S batteries.

Automated summary

An advanced N-doped carbon microreactor embedded with Co3O4/ZnO heterojunctions is designed as a dual-functional host for optimizing both S cathode and Li metal anode, resulting in excellent cycling stability and high rate capability of Li-S batteries.