Surface strain-enhanced MoS2 as a high-performance cathode catalyst for lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are one of the main candidates for the next generation of energy storage systems. To improve the performance of LSBs, we herein propose the use of strained MoS2 (s-MoS2) as a catalytically active sulfur host. The introduction of strain in the MoS2 surface, which alters its atomic positions and expands the S-Mo-S angle, shifts the d-band center closer to the Fermi level and provides the surface with abundant and highly active catalytic sites; these enhance the catalyst's ability to adsorb lithium polysulfides (LiPS), accelerating its catalytic conversion and promoting lithium-ion transferability. Strain is generated through the synthesis of core-shell nanoparticles, using different metal sulfides as strain-inducing cores. s-MoS2 nanoparticles are sup-ported on carbon nanofibers (CNF/s-MoS2), and the resulting electrodes are characterized by capacities of 1290 and 657 mAh g-1 at 0.2 and 5 C, respectively, with a 0.05% capacity decay rate per cycle at 8 C during 700 cycles. Overall, this work not only provides an ingenious and effective strategy to regulate LiPS adsorption and con-version through strain engineering, but also indicates a path toward the application of strain engineering in other energy storage and conversion fields.

Automated summary

This study proposes the use of strained MoS2 as a catalytically active sulfur host to improve the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries. The introduction of strain enhances the catalyst's ability to adsorb lithium polysulfides, accelerating its catalytic conversion and promoting lithium-ion transferability. The results show that strain engineering can significantly improve the capacity and cycling stability of the electrodes. This work not only provides a new strategy for the development of lithium-sulfur batteries, but also suggests the potential application of strain engineering in other energy storage and conversion fields.