Tungsten phosphide on nitrogen and phosphorus-doped carbon as a functional membrane coating enabling robust lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) hold great potential as future energy storage technology, but their widespread application is hampered by the slow polysulfide conversion kinetics and the sulfur loss during cycling. In this study, we detail a one-step approach to growing tungsten phosphide (WP) nanop...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Li, Canhuang, Yu, Jing, Zhang, Chaoqi, Yang, Dawei, Wang, Jian, Li, Hao, Huang, Chen, Xiao, Ke, Cheng, Yapeng, Ren, Yuchuan, Qi, Xuede, Yang, Tianxiang, Li, Junshan, Wang, Jiaao, Henkelman, Graeme, Arbiol, Jordi, Nan, Junmin, Cabot, Andreu
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/382630
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/382630
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85193201069
Access Level:acceso embargado
Palabra clave:Lithiophilic site
Lithium polysulfide
Lithium-sulfur battery
Multifunctional separator
Sulphophilic site
Tungsten phosphide
Descripción
Sumario:Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) hold great potential as future energy storage technology, but their widespread application is hampered by the slow polysulfide conversion kinetics and the sulfur loss during cycling. In this study, we detail a one-step approach to growing tungsten phosphide (WP) nanoparticles on the surface of nitrogen and phosphorus co-doped carbon nanosheets (WP@NPC). We further demonstrate that this material provides outstanding performance as a multifunctional separator in LSBs, enabling higher sulfur utilization and exceptional rate performance. These excellent properties are associated with the abundance of lithium polysulfide (LiPS) adsorption and catalytic conversion sites and rapid ion transport capabilities. Experimental data and density functional theory calculations demonstrate tungsten to have a sulfophilic character while nitrogen and phosphorus provide lithiophilic sites that prevent the loss of LiPSs. Furthermore, WP regulates the LiPS catalytic conversion, accelerating the Li-S redox kinetics. As a result, LSBs containing a polypropylene separator coated with a WP@NPC layer show capacities close to 1500 mAh/g at 0.1C and coulombic efficiencies above 99.5 % at 3C. Batteries with high sulfur loading, 4.9 mg cm-2, are further produced to validate their superior cycling stability. Overall, this work demonstrates the use of multifunctional separators as an effective strategy to promote LSB performance.