Heterostructured Co/CeO 2 -Decorating N-Doped Porous Carbon Nanocubes as Efficient Sulfur Hosts with Enhanced Rate Capability and Cycling Durability toward Room-Temperature Na-S Batteries.

Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries have gained significant interest thanks to their satisfactory energy density and abundant earth resources. Nevertheless, practical implementations of RT Na-S batteries are still impeded by serious shuttle effects of sodium polysulfide (NaPS) intermediates, sluggish redox kinetics of cathodes, and poor electronic conductivity from S-species. To solve these problems, heterostructured Co/CeO 2 -decorating N-doped porous carbon nanocubes (Co/CeO 2 -NPC) are constructed as a S support, which integrates the strong adsorption and fast conversion of NaPSs, together with superior electronic conductivity. Consequently, the as-synthesized S@Co/CeO 2 -NPC cathode for RT Na-S batteries exhibits improved rate performance (1275, 561.1, and 485 mAh g -1 at 0.1, 5, and 10 C, respectively) and superior cyclic durability (capacity degeneration of 0.027% per cycle after 1000 cycles at 5 C). Such a S cathode combining a heterostructure interface, hierarchical porous carbon nanocubes, and polar compositions can considerably increase electronic conductivity and promote NaPS adsorption and conversion, achieving superior performance toward RT Na-S batteries.