Carbon Nanotubes Controllable Winding V₂O₃/Ni Heterostructure for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• Effective sulfur host materials are critical for advancing lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery performance.
• Existing carbon or polar materials often struggle to mitigate the shuttle effect in Li-S batteries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an efficient sulfur host material for Li-S batteries by combining carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with a V2O3/Ni heterostructure.
• To enhance the catalytic conversion of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and improve redox reaction kinetics.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a V2O3/Ni heterostructure integrated with CNTs as a sulfur host.
• Electrochemical testing of the V2O3/Ni-CNTs-S cathode in Li-S batteries.
• Analysis of material properties including conductivity, adsorption capacity, and catalytic activity.

Main Results:

• The V2O3/Ni-CNTs cathode demonstrated excellent conductivity, adsorption, and catalytic activity.
• Achieved 500 charge-discharge cycles at 1.0 C with a low capacity decay rate of 0.062% per cycle.
• Retained a specific capacity of 733 mAh g-1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C with a high sulfur loading of 5.0 mg cm-2.

Conclusions:

• The V2O3/Ni-CNTs material serves as a highly effective sulfur host for Li-S batteries.
• The integrated heterostructure significantly suppresses the shuttle effect and enhances electrochemical performance.
• This approach offers a promising strategy for developing high-performance and durable Li-S batteries.