Nitrogen-Doped Ti$_3$C$_2$T$_x$ Coated with a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer as Efficient Cathode Material for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Abstract
Due to their high energy density (2600 Wh/kg), low cost, and low environmental impact, lithium-sulfur batteries are considered a promising alternative to lithium-ion batteries. However, their commercial viability remains a formidable scientific challenge mainly because of the sluggish reaction kinetics at the cathode and the so-called "shuttling effect" of soluble polysulfides, which results in capacity decay and a shortened lifespan. Herein, molecular imprinting with LiS as a target molecule in combination with a two-dimensional material, MXene, is proposed to overcome these issues. Molecularly imprinted polymer-coated nitrogen-doped Ti-based MXene was successfully synthesized and demonstrated to exhibit an appealing electrochemical performance, namely a high specific capacity of 1095 mAh/g at 0.1 C and an extended cycling stability (300 mAh/g at 1.0 C after 300 cycles). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was applied to elucidate the underlying mechanisms and proved that LiS-imprinted polymer polyacrylamide serves as a polysulfide trap through strong chemical affinity towards the long-chain lithium polysulfides, while N-doped Ti-based MXene promotes the redox kinetics by accelerating the conversion of lithium polysulfides. This distinct interfacial strategy is expected to result in more effective and stable Li-S batteries.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2308.10139,
title = {Nitrogen-Doped Ti$_3$C$_2$T$_x$ Coated with a Molecularly Imprinted Polymer as Efficient Cathode Material for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries},
author = {Feng Yan and Liqiang Lu and Chongan Ye and Qi Chen and Sumit Kumar and Wenjian Li and Hamoon Hemmatpour and Konstantinos Spyrou and Sytze de Graaf and Marc C. A. Stuart and Bart J. Kooi and Dimitrios P. Gournis and Katja Loos and Yutao Pei and Petra Rudolf},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.10139},
year = {2023}
}