V2O5 plates anchored in CNTS composite materials with a network structure as polysulfide capture for lithium-sulfur battery

Lithium-sulfur batteries (Li-S) are one of the future battery systems due to environmental friendliness and high theoretical specific capacity. However, the commercial development of Li-S battery faces numerous challenges, including the back-and-forth shuttle of long-chain polysulfides and the insulating properties of sulfur. To address these difficulties, we here prepared a carbon nanotubes/V2O5 plates/S (CNTs/V2O5/S) material as the host material. The CNTs can serve as a conductive network that speeds up the sulfur reaction rate. In addition, the polar V2O5 plates can effectively hinder the dissolution of polysulfides. The specific capacity of the CNTs/V2O5/S electrode was 709.9 mAh/g(-1) at 0.1C, and the capacity retention rate was 72.6% over 100 cycles. After 500 cycles, the capacity retention efficiency is 71.7% and the decay rate is 0.056% at 1C. As-prepared CNTs/V2O5 composites, on the one hand, CNTs can enhance electron transport. On the other hand, the polar V2O5 plates block polysulfide diffusion. This provides a novel route for manufacturing Li-S batteries.

Automated summary

Researchers prepared a carbon nanotubes/V2O5/S material as the host material for lithium-sulfur batteries, which solves the challenges faced by these batteries and has high specific capacity and environmental friendliness.