Vapor deposition of aluminium oxide into N-rich mesoporous carbon framework as a reversible sulfur host for lithium-sulfur battery cathode

Restraining the shuttle effects of lithium polysulfides is the key to improve the cycling reversibility and stability of lithium-sulfur(Li-S)batteries for which design of robust sulfur hosts has been regarded as the most effective strategy.In this work,we report a new type of hybrid sulfur host which is composed of Al_(2)O_(3) homogenously decorated in nitrogen-rich mesoporous carbon framework(NMC-Al_(2)O_(3)).The NMC-Al_(2)O_(3) hybrid host features a poly-dispersed spherical morphology and a mesoporous configuration with high surface area and large pore volume that can accommodate a high sulfur content up to 73.5 wt.%.As a result,the fabricated NMC-Al_(2)O_(3)-S cathode exhibits all-round improvements in electrochemical properties in term of capacities(1,212 mAh·g^(-1)at 0.2 C;755 mAh·g^(-1)at 2 C),cycling charge-discharge reversibility(sustainably 100%efficiencies)and stability(1,000 cycles with only 0.023%capacity decay per cycle at 0.5 C).By contrast,the Al_(2)O_(3)-free NMC-S cathode shows both decreased capacities and rapidly descending Coulombic efficiencies during cycling.Density functional theory(DFH")calculations further reveal that the implanted Al_(2)O_(3) can greatly enhance the chemical adsorption and catalytic conversion for various lithium polysulfides and thereby effectively prevent the polysulfide shuttling and significantly improve the utilizability,reversibility and stability of sulfur cathode.