Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 26, 2026
08:34
A Dual-Functional Electroactive Filter Towards Simultaneously SbIII Oxidation and Sequestration
Published on: December 5, 2019
6.0K
Coupled Electronic-Catalytic Regulation in All-in-One VN/B2O3 Ceramic Enables Fast Polysulfides Conversion in Li-S
Ruiqing Liu1,2, Chenxu Tian1, Xiaoyu Wang1
1State Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (LoFE) & Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Posts & Telecommunications, Nanjing, China.
Angewandte Chemie (International Ed. in English)
|February 24, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed a novel ant-nest-like porous ceramic (VNBO) to enhance lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. This material improves lithium polysulfide conversion and sulfur utilization, paving the way for advanced energy storage solutions.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Electrochemistry
- Energy Storage
Background:
- Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries offer high energy density but face challenges like slow lithium polysulfide (LiPSs) conversion and low sulfur utilization.
- Existing Li-S battery designs struggle with limited practical loading and inefficient electrochemical performance.
- Developing advanced cathode materials is crucial for overcoming these limitations and realizing the potential of Li-S batteries.
Purpose of the Study:
- To engineer an integrated porous ceramic material for enhanced Li-S battery cathodes.
- To investigate the synergistic effects of vanadium nitride (VN) and boron trioxide (B2O3) in a novel VNBO structure.
- To improve LiPSs conversion kinetics, suppress shuttling, and boost overall electrochemical performance in Li-S batteries.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of an ant-nest-like porous VN/B2O3 (VNBO) ceramic via a bottom-up sintering-diffusion process.
- Characterization of the VNBO ceramic's structure, conductivity, and catalytic activity.
- Electrochemical testing of the 2-VNBO@S cathode in Li-S battery configurations, including cycling stability and high sulfur loading.
Main Results:
- The integrated VNBO ceramic provides a conductive framework, minimizing interfacial resistance and accelerating LiPSs redox kinetics.
- The VN nano-units act as catalytic centers, while B2O3 promotes hierarchical structure and modulates the heterointerface.
- The 2-VNBO@S cathode achieved high capacities (1187.2 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C, 944.3 mAh g-1 at 3 C) and excellent stability (0.054% decay per cycle), even at high sulfur loading (557.9 mAh g-1 at 4 mg cm-2).
Conclusions:
- The synergistic electronic-catalytic regulation in the VNBO material effectively suppresses LiPSs shuttling and enables fast, reversible conversion.
- The developed VNBO ceramic represents a robust design strategy for high-energy and catalytically active sulfur cathodes in Li-S batteries.
- This work offers a promising pathway for advancing next-generation high-energy storage systems.
