RIS ID

142274

Publication Details

Wang, N., Wang, Y., Bai, Z., Fang, Z., Zhang, X., Xu, Z., Ding, Y., Xu, X., Du, Y., Dou, S. & Yu, G. (2020). High-performance room-temperature sodium-sulfur battery enabled by electrocatalytic sodium polysulfides full conversion. Energy and Environmental Science, 13 (2), 562-570.

Abstract

© 2020 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT-Na-S) batteries are highly desirable for grid-scale stationary energy storage due to their low cost; however, short cycling stability caused by the incomplete conversion of sodium polysulfides is a major issue for their application. Herein, we introduce an effective sulfiphilic host, gold nanodots decorated on hierarchical N-doped carbon microspheres (CN/Au/S), to achieve completely reversible conversion reactions in the S cathode by electrocatalyzing the low-kinetics conversion of Na2S4 into NaS2 (discharge process) or S (charge process). Besides, gold nanodots and N-doped carbon can increase the conductivity of the S cathode and provide strong polar-polar adsorption of sodium polysulfides to alleviate the shuttling effects. When serving as the cathode, the CN/Au/S composite can realize enhanced sulfur utilization, excellent cycling stability, and outstanding rate capability. This work deepens our understanding of the catalytic effect of gold atoms on sulfur molecules, opening a new avenue for cathode design and development of advanced RT-Na-S batteries.

Share

COinS
 

Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c9ee03251g