Abstract
Exploration of new electrochemistries that go “beyond lithium-ion” to boost energy density and reduce cost is rapidly gaining momentum. In this pursuit, lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries that couple sulfur-positive electrodes (or “cathodes”) with lithium-negative electrodes (or “anodes”) are considered particularly promising candidates. The Li-S battery has received enormous attention in the past decade, due to the high theoretical specific energy (Wh kg−1) and earth abundance of sulfur, which is coupled with a high-energy density Li metal anode in the cell. Instead of intercalation chemistry, these batteries rely on conversion chemistry, which yields a high theoretical capacity. MXenes can provide a vital role. MXenes have been used in Li-S batteries. Delaminated MXenes are capable of high electronic conductivity and exhibit rich surface properties, which synergistically improves the electron transport properties of the sulfur electrode and provides chemical interactions with lithium polysulfides. Another advantageous aspect is MXenes denser structure compared to most “fluffy” carbonaceous materials, which benefits the volumetric energy density of the battery. This chapter provides a brief overview of the recent development of MXenes for Li-S batteries, from material aspects on tuning the physical and electrochemical properties of the sulfur cathode to their performance in prototype cells.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Choi, N. S., Chen, Z., Freunberger, S. A., Ji, X., Sun, Y. K., Amine, K., Yushin, G., Nazar, L. F., Cho, J., & Bruce, P. G. (2012). Challenges facing lithium batteries and electrical double-layer capacitors. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 51, 9994.
Yin, Y. X., **n, S., Guo, Y. G., & Wan, L. J. (2013). Lithium–sulfur batteries: Electrochemistry, materials, and prospects. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 52, 13186–13200.
Yang, Y., Zheng, G., & Cui, Y. (2013). Nanostructured sulfur cathodes. Chemical Society Reviews, 42, 3018–3032.
Fang, R., Zhao, S., Sun, Z., Wang, D.-W., Cheng, H.-M., & Li, F. (2017). More reliable lithium-sulfur batteries: Status, solutions and prospects. Advanced Materials, 29, 1606823.
Ji, X., Lee, K. T., & Nazar, L. F. (2009). A highly ordered nanostructured carbon–sulphur cathode for lithium–sulfur batteries. Nature Materials, 8, 500–506.
Pang, Q., Liang, X., Kwok, C. Y., & Nazar, L. (2016). Advances in lithium-sulfur batteries based on multifunctional cathodes and electrolytes. Nature Energy, 1, 16132.
Mikhaylik, Y. V., & Akridge, J. R. (2004). Polysulfide shuttle study in the Li/S battery system. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 151, A1969–A1976.
Eroglu, D., Zavadil, K. R., & Gallagher, K. G. (2015). Critical link between materials chemistry and cell-level design for high energy density and low cost lithium- transportation battery. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 162, A982–A990.
Pope, M. A., & Aksay, R. A. (2015). Structural design of cathodes for Li-S batteries. Advanced Energy Materials, 5, 201500124.
**n, S., et al. (2012). Small molecules promise better lithium – Sulfur batteries. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134, 18510–18513.
Li, Z., et al. (2014). A highly ordered meso@ microporous carbon-supported @smaller sulfur core–shell structured cathode for Li–S batteries. ACS Nano, 8, 9295–9303.
Jayaprakash, N., Shen, J., Moganty, S. S., Corona, A., & Archer, L. A. (2011). Porous hollow carbon@sulfur composites for high power lithium–sulfur batteries. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 123, 6026–6030.
Song, M. K., Zhang, Y., & Cairns, E. J. (2013). A long-life, high-rate lithium/cell: A multifaceted approach to enhancing cell performance. Nano Letters, 13, 5891–5899.
Song, J., et al. (2014). Nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon promoted chemical adsorption of sulfur and fabrication of high-areal-capacity sulfur cathode with exceptional cycling stability for lithium-sulfur batteries. Advanced Functional Materials, 24, 1243–1250.
Wei Seh, Z., et al. (2013). Sulfur–TiO2 yolk–shell nanoarchitecture with internal void space for long-cycle lithium–Sulphur batteries. Nature Communications, 4, 1331.
Liang, X., Hart, C., Pang, Q., Garsuch, A., Weiss, T., & Nazar, L. F. (2015). A highly efficient polysulphide mediator for lithium–Sulphur batteries. Nature Communications, 6, 5682.
Seh, Z. W., et al. (2014). Two-dimensional layered transition metal disulphides for effective encapsulation of high-capacity lithium sulphide cathodes. Nature Communications, 5, 5017.
Pang, Q., Kundu, D., & Nazar, L. F. (2016). A graphene-like metallic cathode host for long-life and high-loading lithium-sulfur batteries. Materials Horizons, 3, 130–136.
Zhou, J., et al. (2014). Rational design of a metal–organic framework host for sulfur storage in fast, long-cycle Li–S batteries. Energy & Environmental Science, 7, 2715–2724.
Anasori, B., Lukatskaya, M. R., & Gogotsi, Y. (2016). 2D metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) for energy storage. Nature Reviews Materials, 2, 16098.
Naguib, M., et al. (2011). Two-dimensional nanocrystals produced by exfoliation of Ti3AlC2. Advanced Materials, 23, 4248–4253.
Naguib, M., Mochalin, V. N., Barsoum, M. W., & Gogotsi, Y. (2014). 25th Anniversary Article. MXenes: A new family of two-dimensional materials. Advanced Materials, 26, 992–1005.
Barsoum, M. W. (2013). MAX Phases: Properties of machinable ternary carbides and nitrides. Weinheim: Wiley.
Mashtalir, O., Naguib, M., Mochalin, V. N., Agnese, Y. D., Heon, M., Barsoum, M. W., & Gogotsi, Y. (2013). Intercalation and delamination of layered carbides and carbonitrides. Nature Communications, 4, 1716.
Ling, Z., et al. (2014). Flexible and conductive MXene films and nanocomposites with high capacitance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111, 16676–16681.
Barsoum, M. W., & Radovic, M. (2011). Elastic and mechanical properties of the MAX phases. Annual Review of Materials Research, 41, 195–227.
Kurtoglu, M., Naguib, M., Gogotsi, Y., & Barsoum, M. W. (2012). First principles study of two-dimensional early transition metal carbides. MRS Communications, 2, 133–137.
Borysiuk, V. N., Mochalin, V. N., & Gogotsi, Y. (2015). Molecular dynamics study of the mechanical properties of two-dimensional titanium carbides Tin+1Cn (MXenes). Nanotechnology, 26, 265705.
Tang, Q., Zhou, Z., & Shen, P. (2012). Are MXenes promising anode materials for Li ion batteries? Computational studies on electronic properties and Li storage capability of Ti3C2 and Ti3C2X2 (X = F, OH) monolayer. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134, 16909–16916.
Weng, H., et al. (2015). Large-gap two-dimensional topological insulator in oxygen functionalized MXene. Physical Review B, 92, 075436.
Shahzad, F., et al. (2016). Electromagnetic interference shielding with 2D transition metal carbides (MXenes). Science, 353, 1137–1140.
Liang, X., Rangom, Y., Kwok, C. Y., Pang, Q., & Nazar, L. F. (2017). Interwoven MXene nanosheet/carbon-nanotube composites as Li-S cathode hosts. Advanced Materials, 29, 1603040.
Rao, D., Zhang, L., Wang, Y., Meng, Z., Qian, X., Liu, J., Shen, X., Qiao, G., & Lu, R. (2017). Mechanism on the improved performance of lithium sulfur batteries with MXene-based additives. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 121, 11047–11054.
Zhao, Y., & Zhao, J. (2017). Functional group-dependent anchoring effect of titanium carbide-based MXenes for lithium- batteries: A computational study. Applied Surface Science, 412, 591–598.
Sim, E. S., & Chung, Y. C. (2018). Non-uniformly functionalized titanium carbide-based MXenes as an anchoring material for Li-S batteries: A first-principles calculation. Applied Surface Science, 435, 210–215.
Sim, E. S., Yi, G. S., Je, M., Lee, Y., & Chung, Y. C. (2017). Understanding the anchoring behavior of titanium carbide-based MXenes depending on the functional group in Li-S batteries: A density functional theory study. Journal of Power Sources, 342, 64–69.
Liang, X., Garsuch, A., & Nazar, L. F. (2015). Sulfur cathodes based on conductive MXene nanosheets for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 54, 3907–3911.
Zheng, J., et al. (2014). Lewis acid–base interactions between polysulfides and metal organic framework in lithium-sulfur batteries. Nano Letters, 14, 2345–2352.
Zhao, X., et al. (2015). Fabrication of layered Ti3C2 with an accordion-like structure as a potential cathode material for high performance lithium–sulfur batteries. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 3, 7870–7876.
Wang, H. W., Naguib, M., Page, K., Wesolowski, D. J., & Gogotsi, Y. (2016). Resolving the structure of Ti3C2Tx MXenes through multilevel structural modeling of the atomic pair distribution function. Chemistry of Materials, 28, 349–359.
Bao, W., Su, D., Zhang, W., Guo, X., & Wang, G. (2016). 3D metal carbide@mesoporous carbon hybrid architecture as a new polysulfide reservoir for lithium-sulfur batteries. Advanced Functional Materials, 26, 8746–8756.
Bao, W., **e, X., Xu, J., Guo, X., Song, J., Wu, W., Su, D., & Wang, G. (2017). Confined sulfur in 3D MXene/reduced graphene oxide hybrid nanosheets for lithium–sulfur battery. Chemistry: A European Journal, 23, 12613–12619.
Shen, C., et al. (2018). Synthesis and electrochemical properties of two-dimensional RGO/Ti3C2Tx nanocomposites. Nanomaterials, 8, 80.
Boota, M., et al. (2016). Pseudocapacitive electrodes produced by oxidant-free polymerization of pyrrole between the layers of 2D titanium carbide (MXene). Advanced Materials, 28, 1517–1522.
Peng, C., et al. (2016). Hybrids of two-dimensional Ti3C2 and TiO2 exposing {001} facets toward enhanced photocatalytic activity. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 8, 6051–6060.
Xu, J., Shim, J., Park, J.-H., & Lee, S. (2016). MXene electrode for the integration of WSe2 and MoS2 field effect transistors. Advanced Functional Materials, 26, 5328–5334.
Ma, T. Y., Cao, J. L., Jaroniec, M., & Qiao, S. Z. (2015). Interacting carbon nitride and titanium carbide nanosheets for high-performance oxygen evolution. Angewandte Chemie, International Edition, 55, 1138–1142.
Bao, W., Liu, L., Wang, C., Choi, S., Wang, D., & Wang, G. (2018). Facile synthesis of crumpled nitrogen-doped MXene nanosheets as a new host for lithium–sulfur batteries. Advanced Energy Materials, 8, 1702485.
Su, Y. S., & Manthiram, A. (2012). Lithium–sulfur batteries with a microporous carbon paper as a bifunctional interlayer. Nature Communications, 3, 1166.
Lin, C., et al. (2016). A few-layered Ti3C2 nanosheet/glass fiber composite separator as a lithium polysulfide reservoir for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 4, 5993–5998.
Song, J., et al. (2016). Immobilizing polysulfides with MXene-functionalized separators for stable lithium−sulfur batteries. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 8, 29427–29433.
Li, B., Zhang, D., Liu, Y., Yu, Y., Li, S., & Yang, S. (2017). Flexible Ti3C2 MXene-lithium film with lamellar structure for ultrastable metallic lithium anodes. Nano Energy, 39, 654–661.
Liang, X., Pang, Q., Kochetkov, I. R., Sempere, M. S., Huang, H., Sun, X., & Nazar, L. F. (2017). A facile surface chemistry route to a stabilised lithium metal anode, Nat. Energy, 6, 17119.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Liang, X., Nazar, L.F. (2019). MXene Materials as Electrodes for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. In: Anasori, B., Gogotsi, Y. (eds) 2D Metal Carbides and Nitrides (MXenes). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19026-2_20
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-19026-2_20
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-19025-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-19026-2
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)