Building a robust sulfur host for aqueous Cu-S battery by introducing nitrogen into carbon nanotubes. (December 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Xiao, Chen; Miao, Zhonghao; Yang, Zhengwei; Yu, Haoxiang; Yan, Lei; Zhang, Liyuan; Shu, Jie
• Is Part Of: Scripta materialia. Number 221(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-12
• Subjects: N-doped carbon nanotube -- Sulfur cathode -- Pre-conversion -- Aqueous Cu-S battery -- Superior cycling stability; Materials -- Periodicals; Metallurgy -- Periodicals; Metalen; Legeringen; Materiaalkunde; Metals, metalworking and machinery industries; Metals; Electronic journals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2022.114975
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1359-6462

Abstract

Abstract: Aqueous metal-sulfur systems have become a research hotspot in recent years owing to their shuttle-free, great safety, and low cost. Among aqueous metal-sulfur systems, Cu-S battery is a big star for its huge theoretical capacity (3350 mAh g −1 ) based on a four-electron transfer reaction. Nevertheless, it faces the problem of poor cycle stability due to the poor conductivity of sulfur and its large volume expansion. In this study, we use nitrogen-doped multi-walled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) as an efficient host for loading sulfur, in which the introduction of nitrogen-containing groups into carbon not only increases the electronic conductivity of N-MWCNTs@S but also improves the adsorption behavior between N-MWCNTs and S/CuS/Cu2 S. As a result, N-MWCNTs@S displays high reversible capacity, superior rate performance, and long-span cycling stability. When cycled at 1 A g −1, it can deliver a reversible capacity of 1580.1 mAh g −1 with 95.9% capacity retention after 454 cycles. Graphical abstract: Image, graphical abstract