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Effect of NiCoO2−x–CNTs/S cathode on electrochemical performance of Lithium–sulfur batteries

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Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries are a potential choice for future energy storage due to their low cost, abundant resources, non-toxicity, and environmental friendliness. However, problems such as insufficient battery conductivity, volume expansion, and shuttle effect constrain their further development. In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were composited with NiCoO2−x, an oxygen vacancy bimetallic oxide with excellent electrochemical properties, as cathode materials for lithium–sulfur batteries. The experiment result shows that the NiCoO2−x/CNTs composite material outperformed pure CNTs. At a 0.1 C rate, the discharge specific capacity of the composite was 1289.9 mAh/g, with an active material utilization of 77%, compared to 881.9 mAh/g and 52.65% for pure CNTs. The composite material exhibited excellent rate performance, maintaining a high discharge specific capacity even at higher rates. Long-term cycling tests revealed a capacity retention of 74.68% after 200 cycles for the composite material, compared to significantly lower retention for CNTs. This study provides new ideas for the study of lithium–sulfur batteries.

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The authors declare that data supporting the finding of this study are available within the article.

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Acknowledgements

HongLiu First-class Disciplines Development Program of Lanzhou University of Technology.

Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.21965019).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Science, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou, 730050, China

    Wenting Hu, Wangjun Feng, Yueping Niu, ZhiFeng Zhao & Li Zhang

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  1. Wenting Hu
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  2. Wangjun Feng
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  3. Yueping Niu
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  4. ZhiFeng Zhao
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  5. Li Zhang
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Contributions

WH: data curation, writing—original draft preparation. WF: writing—review. YN: software, data curation.

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Correspondence to Wangjun Feng.

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Hu, W., Feng, W., Niu, Y. et al. Effect of NiCoO2−x–CNTs/S cathode on electrochemical performance of Lithium–sulfur batteries. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 34, 2145 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11458-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-023-11458-8

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