Minimizing catalyst amount in sulfur cathodes with titanium monoxide: Toward more applicable Li-sulfur batteries

Using economical oxide catalysts into sulfur (S 8 ) cathodes proves an efficient way to address kinetic issues in Li-sulfur batteries (LSBs). However, these catalysts often occupy too much proportion in weight, thus attenuating the cathode gravimetric energy density . Also, they tend to be sulfurized/ deteriorated in electrode fabrication or battery cycling. To overcome above constraints, we herein propose to minimize the catalyst amount in S 8 cathodes with titanium monoxide (TiO) nanoclusters . In such configured cathodes, there are only ∼ 1.47 % of TiO nano catalysts in weight; such oxides with rich (200) facet prove efficient kinetic-boosting properties on Li 2 S n phase conversions. Notably, they exhibit prominent electrochemical stability over all cyclic periods, without evident sulfuration or phase deteriorations. The in-situ Raman monitoring toward LSBs reveals the liquid-to-solid polysulfide transitions can be well accelerated even under lean-catalyst conditions. As evaluated, the cathodes of S 8 infused in lean TiO-involved carbon hosts (S 8 @ L -TiO@CH) show a great specific capacity of 1331 mAh g −1 at 0.2 C, with a high capacity retention ratio of 78.5 % at the end of cycling. This work may guide a research trend to endow S 8 cathodes with elevated viability/durability for practical usage.