CrP Nanocatalyst within Porous MOF Architecture to Accelerate Polysulfide Conversion in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries
Xinrui Zhang, Zihan Shen, Yang Wen, Qiya He, Jun Yao, Huiting Cheng, Ting Gao, Xiaoming Wang, Huigang Zhang, Huan Jiao
Abstract
Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries demonstrate great potential for next-generation electrochemical energy storage systems because of their high specific energy and low-cost materials. However, the shuttling behavior and slow kinetics of intermediate polysulfide (PS) conversion pose a major obstacle to the practical application of Li–S batteries. Herein, CrP within a porous nanopolyhedron architecture derived from a metal–organic framework (CrP@MOF) is developed as a highly efficient nanocatalyst and S host to address these issues. Theoretical and experimental analyses demonstrate that CrP@MOF has a remarkable binding strength to trap soluble PS species. In addition, CrP@MOF shows abundant active sites to catalyze the PS conversion, accelerate Li-ion diffusion, and induce the precipitation/decomposition of Li 2 S. As a result, the CrP@MOF-containing Li–S batteries demonstrate over 67% capacity retention over 1000 cycles at 1 C, ∼100% Coulombic efficiency, and high rate capability (674.6 mAh g –1 at 4 C). In brief, CrP nanocatalysts accelerate the PS conversion and improve the overall performance of Li–S batteries.