A research group led by WU Zhong-Shuai from Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, developed niobium (V)‐based heterostructure nanosheet for polysulfides‐suppressed sulfur cathodes and dendrite‐free lithium anodes simultaneously for long‐cycling and lean‐electrolytelithium sulfur (Li-S) battery. This work has been published online entitled with “Interfacial Engineering of Bifunctional Niobium (V)‐Based Heterostructure Nanosheet Toward High Efficiency Lean‐Electrolyte Lithium-Sulfur Full Batteries” inAdvanced Functional Materials.

The lithium sulfur (Li-S) battery with high energy density (2600 Wh kg^-1) is a preferential option for next‐generation energy storage technologies, but the lithium polysulfide shuttling, sluggish redox kinetics, and uncontrollable lithium dendrite growth resulted in low capacity, limited cycling stability, which hamper its commercial viability. In addition, the low sulfur loading and high electrolyte and Li metal dosage also limited its practical energy density.Therefore, it is highly urgent to design the kinetically advanced Li–S battery system with well‐designed configuration for both polysulfides‐suppressed sulfur cathode and cathode and dendrite‐free anode.

The scientists developed a twinborn holey Nb₄N₅-Nb₂O₅heterostructure, serving as dual‐functional host for both redox-kinetics-accelerated sulfur cathode and dendrite‐inhibited lithium anode simultaneously for long‐cycling and lean‐electrolyte Li-S battery. Benefiting from the accelerative polysulfides anchoring-diffusion-converting efficiency of Nb₄N₅-Nb₂O₅, polysulfide‐shutting is significantly alleviated. Meanwhile, the lithiophilic nature of holey Nb₄N₅-Nb₂O₅is applied as an ion‐redistributor for homogeneous Li‐ion deposition.Taking advantage of these merits, the Li-S full battery presents a high areal capacity of 5.0 mAh cm^-2at sulfur loading of 6.9 mg cm^-2, corresponding to negative to positive capacity ratio of 2.4:1 and electrolyte to sulfur ratio of 5.1 µL mg^-1. Therefore, this work paves a new avenue for boosting high‐performances Li-S batteries toward practical applications. (Text and image by SHI Haodong)

Caption. Schematic of Bifunctional Niobium (V)‐Based Heterostructure Nanosheet Toward High Efficiency Lean‐Electrolyte Lithium–Sulfur Full Batteries (Image by SHI Haodong)

Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key R&D Program of China, Dalian National Laboratory For Clean Energy (DNL), CAS,etc.