TY - JOUR

T1 - Monodisperse Molybdenum Nanoparticles as Highly Efficient Electrocatalysts for Li-S Batteries

AU - Liu, Yuping

AU - Chatterjee, Atasi

AU - Rusch, Pascal

AU - Wu, Chuanqiang

AU - Nan, Pengfei

AU - Peng, Manhua

AU - Bettels, Frederik

AU - Li, Taoran

AU - Ma, Chenxi

AU - Zhang, Chaofeng

AU - Ge, Binghui

AU - Bigall, Nadja-Carola

AU - Pfnur, H.

AU - Ding, Fei

AU - Zhang, Lin

N1 - Funding Information: N.C.B. and P.R. thank the DFG for partial funding under Germany’s Excellence Strategy within the Cluster of Excellence PhoenixD (EXC 2122, Project ID 390833453) and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 714429). The authors moreover thank the Laboratory of Nano and Quantum Engineering (LNQE) for providing the SEM facility.

PY - 2021/9/28

Y1 - 2021/9/28

N2 - Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted widespread attention due to their high theoretical energy density. However, their practical application is still hindered by the shuttle effect and the sluggish conversion of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Herein, monodisperse molybdenum (Mo) nanoparticles embedded onto nitrogen-doped graphene (Mo@N-G) were developed and used as a highly efficient electrocatalyst to enhance LiPS conversion. The weight ratio of the electrocatalyst in the catalyst/sulfur cathode is only 9%. The unfilled d orbitals of oxidized Mo can attract the electrons of LiPS anions and form Mo–S bonds during the electrochemical process, thus facilitating fast conversion of LiPSs. Li-S batteries based on the Mo@N-G/S cathode can exhibit excellent rate performance, large capacity, and superior cycling stability. Moreover, Mo@N-G also plays an important role in room-temperature quasi-solid-state Li-S batteries. These interesting findings suggest the great potential of Mo nanoparticles in building high-performance Li-S batteries.

AB - Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have attracted widespread attention due to their high theoretical energy density. However, their practical application is still hindered by the shuttle effect and the sluggish conversion of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Herein, monodisperse molybdenum (Mo) nanoparticles embedded onto nitrogen-doped graphene (Mo@N-G) were developed and used as a highly efficient electrocatalyst to enhance LiPS conversion. The weight ratio of the electrocatalyst in the catalyst/sulfur cathode is only 9%. The unfilled d orbitals of oxidized Mo can attract the electrons of LiPS anions and form Mo–S bonds during the electrochemical process, thus facilitating fast conversion of LiPSs. Li-S batteries based on the Mo@N-G/S cathode can exhibit excellent rate performance, large capacity, and superior cycling stability. Moreover, Mo@N-G also plays an important role in room-temperature quasi-solid-state Li-S batteries. These interesting findings suggest the great potential of Mo nanoparticles in building high-performance Li-S batteries.

KW - Li-S batteries

KW - Mo-S bond

KW - Mo-based compounds

KW - electrocatalyst

KW - monodisperse Mo nanoparticles

KW - quasi-solid-state

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85116018504&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.15488/11333

DO - 10.15488/11333

M3 - Article

VL - 15

SP - 15047

EP - 15056

JO - ACS NANO

JF - ACS NANO

SN - 1936-0851

IS - 9

ER -