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Electrocatalysts in lithium-sulfur batteries

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Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries with the merits of high theoretical capacity and high energy density have gained significant attention as the next-generation energy storage devices. Unfortunately, the main pressing issues of sluggish reaction kinetics and severe shuttling of polysulfides hampered their practical application. To overcome these obstacles, various strategies adopting high-efficient electrocatalysts have been explored to enable the rapid polysulfide conversions and thereby suppressing the polysulfide shuttling. This review first summarizes the recent progress on electrocatalysts involved in hosts, interlayers, and protective layers. Then, these electrocatalysts in Li-S batteries are analyzed by listing representative works, from the viewpoints of design concepts, engineering strategies, working principles, and electrochemical performance. Finally, the remaining issues/challenges and future perspectives facing electrocatalysts are given and discussed. This review may provide new guidance for the future construction of electrocatalysts and their further utilizations in high-performance Li-S batteries.

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Acknowledgements

This project was financially supported by the Yong Scientific Foundation of Anhui University of Technology for Top Talent (No. DT2100000947), Natural Science Foundation of Anhui Province Education Commission (No. KJ2020A0269), the Scientific Research Foundation of Anhui University of Technology for Talent Introduction (No. DT19100069), and the Yong Scientific Research Foundation of Anhui University of Technology (No. QZ202003).

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  1. Shanying Wang and Ziwei Wang contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Green Fabrication and Surface Technology of Advanced Metal Materials & Low-Carbon New Materials Research Center & School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan, 243002, China

    Shanying Wang, Ziwei Wang, Fangzheng Chen, Bo Peng, Jie Xu, Junzhe Li, Yaohui Lv, Ailin **a & Lianbo Ma

  2. Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Thermal Ageing, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, 200240, China

    Qi Kang

  3. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China

    Lianbo Ma

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  1. Shanying Wang
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  9. Ailin **a
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Correspondence to Qi Kang, Ailin **a or Lianbo Ma.

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Wang, S., Wang, Z., Chen, F. et al. Electrocatalysts in lithium-sulfur batteries. Nano Res. 16, 4438–4467 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-5215-4

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