Advanced Nanostructured Materials for Electrocatalysis in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries
Zihui Song,
Wanyuan Jiang,
Xigao Jian,
Fangyuan Hu
Affiliations
Zihui Song
School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontiers Science Center for Smart Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Technology Innovation Center of High Performance Resin Materials (Liaoning Province), Key Laboratory of Energy Materials and Devices (Liaoning Province), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Wanyuan Jiang
State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontiers Science Center for Smart Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, Technology Innovation Center of High Performance Resin Materials (Liaoning Province), Key Laboratory of Energy Materials and Devices (Liaoning Province), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Xigao Jian
School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontiers Science Center for Smart Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Technology Innovation Center of High Performance Resin Materials (Liaoning Province), Key Laboratory of Energy Materials and Devices (Liaoning Province), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Fangyuan Hu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Fine Chemicals, Frontiers Science Center for Smart Materials Oriented Chemical Engineering, Technology Innovation Center of High Performance Resin Materials (Liaoning Province), Key Laboratory of Energy Materials and Devices (Liaoning Province), Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116024, China
Lithium–sulfur (Li-S) batteries are considered as among the most promising electrochemical energy storage devices due to their high theoretical energy density and low cost. However, the inherently complex electrochemical mechanism in Li-S batteries leads to problems such as slow internal reaction kinetics and a severe shuttle effect, which seriously affect the practical application of batteries. Therefore, accelerating the internal electrochemical reactions of Li-S batteries is the key to realize their large-scale applications. This article reviews significant efforts to address the above problems, mainly the catalysis of electrochemical reactions by specific nanostructured materials. Through the rational design of homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysts (including but not limited to strategies such as single atoms, heterostructures, metal compounds, and small-molecule solvents), the chemical reactivity of Li-S batteries has been effectively improved. Here, the application of nanomaterials in the field of electrocatalysis for Li-S batteries is introduced in detail, and the advancement of nanostructures in Li-S batteries is emphasized.
