Highly Effective Trapping-Conversion Interface Based on Nickel-Modified Versatile Carbon Skeleton Enabled High-Performance Li-S Battery.

The development of comprehension in the mechanism of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries creates more opportunities and potential for the application of interlayer. However, the viable design of versatile interlayer to retard the shuttling effects and improve the sluggish kinetics is still a focus and paramount challenge. Herein, we present a tentacles-like metallic nickel-modified and nitrogen-doped carbon skeleton (NCS) to serve as adsorbent and catalyst in the lithium-sulfur battery (LSBs). The carbonized skeleton and derived carbon tubes jointly construct conductive networks and adequate ion pathways. Meanwhile, abundant metallic nickel nanoparticles synergistically build a multifunctional interface with polar networks for the fixation and conversion of polysulfides, giving rise to significant improvement of cyclic stability and reaction kinetics of LSBs. As a result, the Li-S batteries using NCS as an interlayer could possess superior electrochemical performance including cyclic stability, high specific capacity (1204.8 mAh g-1 at 0.2C, 998.7 mAh g-1 at 1C), and good Coulombic efficiency. More importantly, even with the areal sulfur loading of up to 6.1 and 7.5 mg cm-2, it still demonstrates superior electrochemical performance with the areal capacity of 4.2 and 5.9 mAh cm-2 with steady cycling, respectively. In conclusion, we confirm this work provides a promising way to explore and expand the application of metal nanoparticles in interlayers for advanced Li-S batteries.