Promoting polysulfides conversion by hexagonal-like V-MOF-derived VC-doped carbon nanotubes for lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) are one of the representatives of a new generation of high-performance batteries, due to their large theoretical specific discharge capacity, high energy density and low cost et al. However, shuttle effect and slow conversion kinetics of polysulfides (LiPSs) hinder the performance of LSBs. In order to mitigate shuttle effect, metal-organic frameworks are introduced. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is used as composite cathode, due to their high electrical conductivity. V-MOF/CNTs-derived hexagonal VC/CNTs nanosheets are successfully synthesized and used as the sulfur host. VC/CNTs nanosheet with mesoporous structure can provide a lot of active sites. VC nanosheets are uniformly distributed and interconnected with CNTs to form a conductive network structure. VC/CNTs has excellent chemical adsorption and catalytic properties on polysulfides, which can improve the redox reaction kinetics and the adsorption capability. Due to the synergistic effects, S/VC/CNTs has an excellent cycling stability. S/VC/CNTs shows a significant initial specific capacity of 1370 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 C. Capacity decay rate per cycle is about 0.037 % After 500 cycles at 0.5 C, the Coulomb efficiency is nearly to 100 %. The results show that the introduction of VC/CNTs composites with special hexagonal structure can accelerate the catalytic electrochemical reaction, and the dissolution and diffusion of polysulfides are well controlled.