A fumed alumina induced gel-like electrolyte for great performance improvement of lithium-sulfur batteries.

The practical application of high energy lithium-sulfur batteries is still limited by unstable lithium anodes and the shuttle effect of polysulfides. Herein, a gel-like electrolyte induced by fumed alumina is proposed for dendrite-free Li deposition, lower over-potential and better cycle stability. Li-S@pPAN cells with the proposed electrolyte exhibit outstanding cycle stability and rate performance with capacity retentions of 95.1% after 300 cycles and 76.5% at 10C against 1C, respectively.