Regulating adsorption ability toward polysulfides in a porous carbon/Cu_(3)P hybrid for an ultrastable high-temperature lithium-sulfur battery

Lithium-sulfur batteries(LSBs)can work at high temperatures,but they suffer from poor cycle life stability due to the“shuttle effect”of polysulfides.In this study,pollen-derived porous carbon/cuprous phosphide(PC/Cu_(3)P)hybrids were rationally synthesized using a one-step carbonization method using pollen as the source material,acting as the sulfur host for LSBs.In the hybrid,polar Cu_(3)P can markedly inhibit the“shuttle effect”by regulating the adsorption ability toward polysulfides,as confirmed by theoretical calculations and experimental tests.As an example,the camellia pollen porous carbon(CPC)/Cu_(3)P/S electrode shows a high capacity of 1205.6 mAh g^(−1) at 0.1 C,an ultralow capacity decay rate of 0.038%per cycle after 1000 cycles at 1 C,and a rather high initial Coulombic efficiency of 98.5%.The CPC/Cu_(3)P LSBs can work well at high temperatures,having a high capacity of 545.9 mAh g^(−1) at 1 C even at 150℃.The strategy of the PC/Cu_(3)P hybrid proposed in this study is expected to be an ideal cathode for ultrastable high-temperature LSBs.We believe that this strategy is universal and worthy of in-depth development for the next generation energy storage devices.

Design of hierarchical and mesoporous FeF_(3)/rGO hybrids as cathodes for superior lithium-ion batteries

Iron fluoride(FeF_(3)) is considered as a promising cathode material for Li-ion batteries(LIBs)due to its high theoretical capacity(712 mAh/g)with a 3 e-transfer.Herein,we have designed a strategy of hierarchical and mesoporous FeF_(3)/rG O hybrids for LIBs,where the hollow Fe F_(3) nanospheres are the main contributor to the specific capacity and the 2 D r GO nanosheets are the matrix elevating the electronic conductivity and buffering the volume expansion.The unique FeF_(3)/rGO hybrid can be rationally synthesized by a nonaqueous in-situ precipitation method,offering the merits of large specific surface area with rich active sites,fast transport channels for lithium ions,effective alleviation of volume expansion during cycles,and accelerating the electrochemical reaction kinetics.The Fe F_(3)/r GO hybrid electrode possesses a high initial discharge capacity of 553.9 m Ah/g at a rate of 0.5 C with 378 m Ah/g after 100 cycles,acceptable rate capability with 168 m Ah/g at 2 C,and feasible high-temperature operation(320 m Ah/g at 70℃).The superior electrochemical behaviors presented here demonstrates that the FeF_(3)/rGO hybrid is a potential electrode for LIBs,which may open up a new vision to design high-efficiency energy-storage devices such as LIBs based on transition metal fluorides.