Locally boosted Li₂S nucleation on VO₂ by loading carbon quantum dots for soft-packaged lithium-sulfur pouch cells

VO₂ affords ultrafast polysulfide adsorption on account of its oxidation potential, which matches the sulfur working window (1.7-2.8 V). Nevertheless, its nonconductive surface limits direct sulfur conversion. Herein, we gently load carbon quantum dots on VO₂ to increase direct Li₂S nucleation by enhanced electron conductivity. As a result, the soft-packaged lithium-sulfur pouch cell yields a capacity retention of 88.8% at 0.5C after 100 cycles and a decay rate of 0.17% per cycle over 200 cycles at 2C. The cell energy density of the multilayer cell is up to 386.1 W h kg^-1.