Large-Scale Synthesis of Nanostructured Carbon-Ti4O7 Hollow Particles as Efficient Sulfur Host Materials for Multilayer Lithium-Sulfur Pouch Cells

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Shilin Mei - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • Andreas Siebert - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • Yaolin Xu - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • Ting Quan - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • Raul Garcia-Diez - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy (Author)
  • Marcus Bär - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy, Helmholtz-Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN), Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Author)
  • Paul Härtel - , Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (Author)
  • Thomas Abendroth - , Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (Author)
  • Susanne Dörfler - , Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (Author)
  • Stefan Kaskel - , Chair of Inorganic Chemistry I, Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology (Author)
  • Yan Lu - , Helmholtz Centre Berlin for Materials and Energy, University of Potsdam (Author)

Abstract

Applications of advanced cathode materials with well-designed chemical components and/or optimized nanostructures promoting the sulfur redox kinetics and suppressing the shuttle effect of polysulfides are highly valued. However, in the case of actual lithium-sulfur (Li−S) batteries under practical working conditions, one long-term obstacle still exists, which is mainly due to the difficulties in massive synthesis of such nanomaterials with low cost and ease of control on the nanostructure. Herein, we develop a facile synthesis of carbon coated Ti4O7 hollow nanoparticles (C−Ti4O7) using spherical polymer electrolyte brush as soft template, which is scalable via utilizing a minipilot reactor. The C−Ti4O7 hollow nanoparticles provide strong chemical adsorption to polysulfides through the large polar surface and additional physical confinement by rich micro- & mesopores and have successfully been employed as an efficient sulfur host for multilayer pouch cells. Besides, the sluggish kinetics of the sulfur and lithium sulfide redox mechanism can be improved by the highly conductive Ti4O7 via catalyzation of the conversion of polysulfides. Consequently, the C−Ti4O7 based pouch cell endows a high discharge capacity of 1003 mAh g−1 at 0.05 C, a high-capacity retention of 83.7 % after 100 cycles at 0.1 C, and a high Coulombic efficiency of 97.5 % at the 100th cycle. This work proposes an effective approach to transfer the synthesis of hollow Ti4O7 nanoparticles from lab- to large-scale production, paving the way to explore a wide range of advanced nanomaterials for multilayer Li−S pouch cells.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere202100398
JournalBatteries and Supercaps
Volume5
Issue number6
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2022
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Mendeley 7ebfe41b-6a7b-30ae-8017-7b439b0f1932

Keywords

Keywords

  • lithium-sulfur batteries, pouch cell, spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB), TiO, Ti4O7

Library keywords