Atomic-Level Catalyst Coupled with Metal Oxide Heterostructure for Promoting Kinetics of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Despite the low competitive cost and high theoretical capacity of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, their practical application is severely hindered by the lithium polysulfide (LiPS) shuttling and low conversion efficiency. Herein, the electronic structure of hollow Titanium dioxide nanospheres is tunned by single Iron atom dopants that can cooperatively enhance LiPS absorption and facilitate desired redox reaction in practical Li-S batteries, further suppressing the notorious shuttle effect, which is consistent with theoretical calculations and in situ UV/vis investigation. The obtained electrode with massive active sites and lower energy barrier for sulfur conversions exhibits exceptional cycling stability after 500 cycles and high capacity under the sulfur loading of 10.53 mg cm-2. In particular, an Ah-level Li-S pouch cell is fabricated, further demonstrating that the synthetic strategy based on atomic-level design offers a promising route toward practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries. Single Fe atoms catalysts implanted in hollow TiO2 nanospheres are prepared as electrocatalysts and anchoring sites for Li-S batteries, which tailor the electronic structure and reduce the energy barrier for sulfur transformations, further imposing strong sulfur immobilization and catalyzation. The corresponding Ah-level Li-S pouch cell delivers a high specific energy of 1.65 Ah, offering a promising route toward the practical high-energy-density Li-S battery. image