Isolated Single-Atom Ni–N5 Catalytic Site in Hollow Porous Carbon Capsules for Efficient Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c03499
• Publication Date: 2021-11-08T17:28:25Z
• Authors: Shaolong Zhang; Xin Ao; Jing Huang; Bin Wei; Yanliang Zhai; Dong Zhai; Weiqiao Deng; Chenliang Su; Dingsheng Wang; Yadong Li
• Keywords: Carbon fibers; Moiety

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries suffer from multiple complex and often interwoven issues, such as the low electronic conductivity of sulfur Li2S/Li2S2, shuttle effect, sluggish electrochemical kinetics lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Guided by theoretical calculations, a multifunctional catalyst isolated single-atom nickel in an optimal Ni-N5 active moiety incorporated hollow nitrogen-doped porous carbon (Ni-N5/HNPC) is constructed acts ideal host for cathode. The improved electrical conductivity, enhanced physical-chemical dual restricting capability toward LiPSs, and, more importantly, boosted redox reaction moiety. Therefore, Ni-N5/HNPC/S cathode exhibits superior rate performance, long-term cycling stability, good areal capacity at high loading. This work highlights important role coordination number centers catalysts provides strategy to design nanoarchitecture with sites high-performance Li-S batteries.