CoB and BN composites enabling integrated adsorption/catalysis to polysulfides for inhibiting shuttle-effect in Li-S batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S)batteries are hampered by the infamous shuttle effect and slow redox kinetics,resulting in rapid capacity decay.Herein,a bifunctional catalysis CoB/BN@rGO with integrated structure and synergy effect between adsorption and catalysis is proposed to solve the above problems.The integrated CoB and BN are simultaneously and uniformly introduced on the rGO substrate through a one-step calcination strategy,applied to modify the cathode side of PP separator.The transition metal borides can catalyze the conversion of lithium polysulfides(Li_(2)Sn,n≥4),whereas the bond of B-S is too weak to absorb LPS.Thus BN introduced can effectively restrict the diffusion of polysulfides via strong chemisorption with LiSnLi+…N,while the rGO substrate ensures smooth electron transfer for redox reaction.Therefore,through the integrated adsorption/catalysis,the shuttle effect is suppressed,the kinetics of redox reaction is enhanced,and the capacity decay is reduced.Using CoB/BN@rGO modified PP separator,the Li-S batteries with high initial capacity(1450 mAh g^(-1)at 0.35 mA cm^(-2))and long-cycle stability(700 cycles at 1.74 mA cm^(-2)with a decay rate of 0.032%per cycle)are achieved.This work provides a novel insight for the preparation of bifunctional catalysis with integrated structure for long-life Li-S batteries.

LiPAA with Short-chain Anion Facilitating Li_(2)S_(x)(x≤4)Reduction in Lean-electrolyte Lithium–sulfur Battery

Lean electrolyte usage in lithium–sulfur battery(LSB)meets the demand of the high energy density.However,lean condition makes the electrolyte-related interface discrete,leading to retardation of ion transfer that depends on interfaces.Consequently,electrochemical reactions face restraint.Herein,lithium polyacrylate acid(LiPAA)with short-chain anions(molecular weight of 2000)is introduced into the cathode.Because of the polysulfide(PS)-philic instinct of the short-chain PAA anions,short-chain PS is captured inside of the cathode.In addition,LiPAA supplies Li^(+)to the short-chain PS captured.The strong interaction between Li_(2)S_(4)and LiPAA effectively decreases Li_(2)S_(4)migration to the anode during discharging.In a sense,the ion mass transfer pattern is thus changed comparing to traditional long-way mode between cathode and anode.Galvanostatic intermittent titration technique(GITT)proves that the interfacial reaction resistance is greatly decreased in the region where Li_(2)S_(x)(x≤4)reduction contributes most.In the same time,the reversibility of electrochemical reduction/oxidation is improved.Owing to the accelerated Li_(2)S_(x)(x≤4)reduction,Li implanting of only 0.3 wt.%plus O introduction up to 1.4 wt.%enables the LSB perform well even with 1/4 of regular electrolyte dosage(5μL mg^(-1))and high-sulfur loading(4.2 mg cm^(-2)),increasing its rate capacity C_(0.8/0.5)from 52.6%(without the LiPAA)to 92.3%(with the LiP AA)as well as a capacity of 518.7 mAh g^(-1)after 400 cycles at 0.8 mA cm^(-2).

Saturation characteristics of low voltage ionization chamber filled with argon or xenon

Argon and xenon are both attractive working gas for low voltage ionization chamber(LVIC),which is a promising candidate for ITER X-ray detectors.In this work,the performances of Arfilling LVIC(Ar-LVIC)and Xe-filling LVIC(Xe-LVIC)as well as the impacts of operation parameters were investigated.Saturation curves of Ar-LVIC and Xe-LVIC with pressure from 0.4 to 1.2 bar were measured with a tungsten X-ray source.The minimum voltage of saturation region(V_(min))of Ar-LVIC and Xe-LVIC,the relationship between V_(min)and saturation current,the ideal operating voltage in ITER and impacts of pressure on saturation current were studied.It was found that Ar-LVIC had smaller V_(min)and saturation currents which decreased with the drop of pressure from 1.2 to 0.4 bar;Xe-LVIC had larger V_(min)and saturation currents which did not obviously decrease with the same pressure drop.It is envisaged that ITER can take advantage of the larger saturation current and lower pressure of Xe-LVIC in the non-nuclear operation phase,and flexibility of pressure and low sensitivity to neutron/gamma radiation of Ar-LVIC in the nuclear operation phase.