Issue

Vol. 14 (2022)

High-Index Faceted Nanocrystals as Highly Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-021-00769-2
Bo Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Da Tian
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Yue Qiu
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Xueqin Song
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Yu Zhang
School of Energy Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Xun Sun
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Huihuang Huang
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Chenghao Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Zhikun Guo
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Lishuang Fan
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China
Naiqing Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Naiqing Zhang

znqmww@163.com

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 14 (2022), Article Number: 40

Abstract

Precisely regulating of the surface structure of crystalline materials to improve their catalytic activity for lithium polysulfides is urgently needed for high-performance lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Herein, high-index faceted iron oxide (Fe2O3) nanocrystals anchored on reduced graphene oxide are developed as highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts, effectively improving the electrochemical performance of Li–S batteries. The theoretical and experimental results all indicate that high-index Fe2O3 crystal facets with abundant unsaturated coordinated Fe sites not only have strong adsorption capacity to anchor polysulfides but also have high catalytic activity to facilitate the redox transformation of polysulfides and reduce the decomposition energy barrier of Li2S. The Li–S batteries with these bifunctional electrocatalysts exhibit high initial capacity of 1521 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and excellent cycling performance with a low capacity fading of 0.025% per cycle during 1600 cycles at 2 C. Even with a high sulfur loading of 9.41 mg cm−2, a remarkable areal capacity of 7.61 mAh cm−2 was maintained after 85 cycles. This work provides a new strategy to improve the catalytic activity of nanocrystals through the crystal facet engineering, deepening the comprehending of facet-dependent activity of catalysts in Li–S chemistry, affording a novel perspective for the design of advanced sulfur electrodes.


Highlights:


1 High-index faceted Fe2O3 nanocrystals with abundant unsaturated Fe sites not only have strong adsorption capacity to anchor LiPSs but also have superior catalytic activity to facilitate the redox conversion of LiPSs and reduce the decomposition energy barrier of Li2S.
2 Our work deepens the comprehending of facet-dependent activity of catalysts in Li–S chemistry and affords a novel perspective for the design of advanced sulfur electrodes.

Keywords

High-index faceted Fe2O3 nanocrystals Unsaturated coordinated Lithium–sulfur batteries Electrocatalysis
Jiang, Bo, Da Tian, Yue Qiu, Xueqin Song, Yu Zhang, Xun Sun, Huihuang Huang, Chenghao Zhao, Zhikun Guo, Lishuang Fan, and Naiqing Zhang. 2021. “High-Index Faceted Nanocrystals As Highly Efficient Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries”. Nano-Micro Letters 14 (December):40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-021-00769-2.
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