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Cobalt hydroxide decorating N-doped hollow carbon sphere as a new sulfur host to improve long cycle stability in lithium–sulfur batteries

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Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries possess high specific capacity and low raw material costs, are considered to be a candidate for replacing traditional lithium-ion batteries. However, the shuttle effect of polysulfide and the low conductivity of sulfur seriously hinder the practical application of lithium–sulfur batteries. Herein, we proposed a hollow porous carbon sphere (HCS) doped with Co(OH)2 as the cathode of lithium–sulfur battery to suppress the shuttle effect. The hollow carbon sphere structure not only restricts the migration of polysulfide, but also improves the overall conductivity of the material, and provides a larger cavity to buffer the expansion of battery during the charging and discharging process. The lithium–sulfur battery using Co(OH)2/HCS composite electrode as cathode delivers initial specific capacity of 865 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C and retains high capacity of 641 mAh g−1 after 400 cycles at 0.2 C with low fading rate(FR) of 0.134% per cycle.

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Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Hu, upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11727902 and No. 12175098), and this research was supported by Jiangxi Provincial Innovation Talents of Science and Technology (20165BCB18003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Materials, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Xianxin Lai, Kaibo Fan, Zhiqi Zhang, Lili Cai, Zhongheng Zhu, Haozhong Huang, Qishen Zhang, Li Wang, Zhengguang Hu & Yong Zhao

  2. Chongqing Materials Research Institute Co, Ltd, Chongqing, 400707, China

    Ling Sun

  3. National Engineering Research Center for Instrument Functional Materials, Chongqing, 400707, China

    Ling Sun

  4. College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Zhehui Zhou

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  1. Xianxin Lai
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  10. Li Wang
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Contributions

Xianxin Lai wrote the main manuscript text and completed the experiment; Kaibo Fan provided suggestions for the experiment; Zhiqi Zhang, Lili Cai, Zhongheng Zhu, Haozhong Huang and Qichen Zhang assisted the experiment; Ling Sun provided the experimental materials; Zhehui Zhou operated SEM; Liwang provided funding; Zhengguang hu provided suggestions for the experiment and revised the paper; Yong Zhao provided funding and provided suggestions for the experiment; All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Zhengguang Hu or Yong Zhao.

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Lai, X., Fan, K., Zhang, Z. et al. Cobalt hydroxide decorating N-doped hollow carbon sphere as a new sulfur host to improve long cycle stability in lithium–sulfur batteries. Ionics 30, 2029–2038 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-024-05390-y

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