• DOI:10.1039/C5TA03062E
• Corpus ID: 94234884

Metal hydroxide – a new stabilizer for the construction of sulfur/carbon composites as high-performance cathode materials for lithium–sulfur batteries

@article{Niu2015MetalH,
  title={Metal hydroxide – a new stabilizer for the construction of sulfur/carbon composites as high-performance cathode materials for lithium–sulfur batteries},
  author={Xiao-qing Niu and Xiuli Wang and Donghuang Wang and Yi Li and Yi-Jun Zhang and Y. J. Zhang and Tao Yang and Ting Yu and Jiang-ping Tu},
  journal={Journal of Materials Chemistry},
  year={2015},
  volume={3},
  pages={17106-17112}
}

• Xiao-qing Niu, Xiuli Wang, +6 authors J. Tu
• Published 11 August 2015
• Materials Science
• Journal of Materials Chemistry

Rational design and fabrication of advanced sulfur cathodes is highly desirable for the development of high performance lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Herein, we report Co(OH)2 as a new stabilizer for the sulfur cathode by constructing a cobalt hydroxide-covered sulfur/conductive carbon black (CCB) electrode with the help of thermal and hydrothermal treatments. In this composite, (Co(OH)2@S/CCB), the sublimed sulfur is anchored in the CCB, followed by a uniform coating of Co(OH)2 nanosheets. As cathode materials of lithium–sulfur batteries, the as-prepared Co(OH)2@S/CCB electrode exhibits remarkable electrochemical performances with a high capacity of 1026 mA h g−1 at 0.1C (1C = 1675 mA g−1) and 829 mA h g−1 at 1C. Moreover, it maintains high coulombic efficiencies above 97% after 200 cycles at 1C, much higher than those of the S/CCB counterpart electrode (85%). After 200 cycles at 1C, a high capacity retention of 71.2% is obtained, better than that of the S/CCB electrode (20.2%). The enhanced performance is mainly due to the Co(OH)2 layer which helps to inhibit the shuttle diffusion of polysulfides, resulting in improved capacity retention and cycling life.