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Research Article

Manipulating fast Li2S redox via carbon confinement and oxygen defect engineering of In2O3 for lithium–sulfur batteries

Jinlei Qin, Rui Wang, Zilong Yuan, Pei Xiao, Deli Wang( )
Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry for Energy Conversion and Storage, Ministry of Education, Hubei Key Laboratory of Material Chemistry and Service Failure, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
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The introduction of O vacancies in N-doped carbon confined In2O3−x significantly reduces its bandgap, enhances the electronic conductivity, and increases the trapping sites for lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) adsorption, thus yielding favorable bidirectional Li2S redox. Stemming from the optimal Li2S electrocatalytic manipulation, Li–S cells employing In2O3−x@nitrogen-doped carbon column (NC) cathodes exhibit prolonged cycle stability superior rate capability, and high areal capacity.

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have been considered as promising energy storage systems due to the merits of high energy density and low cost. However, the lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) diffusion and sluggish redox kinetics hamper the battery performance. In this work, low-bandgap indium oxide (In2O3) with dense oxygen vacancies (In2O3−x, 0 < x < 3) confined in nitrogen-doped carbon column (NC) is developed as a desirable LiPSs immobilizer and promoter to address these intractable problems. The NC confined In2O3−x with rich O vacancies (In2O3−x@NC) lowers the bandgap of 1.78 eV, strengthens the chemical adsorbability to LiPSs, and catalyzes the bidirectional Li2S redox. Attributed to the structural and chemical cooperativities, the obtained sulfur electrodes exhibit a stable cycling over 550 cycles at 1.0 C and splendid rate capability up to 4.0 C. More significantly, when the sulfur-loading reaches as high as 5.5 mg·cm−2, the cathodes achieve an areal capacity of 5.12 mAh·cm−2 at 0.1 C. The strategy of NC confined catalyst with rich defects engineering demonstrates great promise in the development of practical Li–S batteries.

Keywords

Li–S batteriesnitrogen-doped carbon confinementoxygen vacanciesbidirectional Li2S redox

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Nano Research
Volume 17 Issue 6,
June 2024
Pages 5179-5187
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-024-6442-7
Cite this article:
Qin J, Wang R, Yuan Z, et al. Manipulating fast Li2S redox via carbon confinement and oxygen defect engineering of In2O3 for lithium–sulfur batteries. Nano Research, 2024, 17(6): 5179-5187. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-024-6442-7
Topics:
Lithium sulfur batteries

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Received: 24 September 2023
Revised: 15 December 2023
Accepted: 22 December 2023
Published: 25 January 2024
© Tsinghua University Press 2024
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