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Recent advances in vacancy engineering for reliable lithium-sulfur batteries

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Abstract

The high-energy-density and low-cost features endow lithium-sulfur batteries with broad application prospects. However, many drawbacks, especially the detrimental shuttle effect, have hindered the further development of LSBs. In response, a lot of new structures have been applied to suppress the shuttle effect and promote the development of LSBs. Recently, vacancy engineering has gained the attention of researchers due to its unique electronic structure. This review aims to analyze the application of vacancy engineering in LSBs. Firstly, the electrochemistry of LSBs has been systematically discussed and the existing challenges as well as improvement tactics of LSBs have also been presented. Subsequently, the preparation methods and characterization technologies of various vacancies are summarized, including oxygen vacancies, sulfur vacancies, selenium vacancies, other anion vacancies, cation vacancies, etc. The latest applications of vacancy engineering in LSBs are also summarized in this review. Finally, some prospects and insights for further investigation and practical application of vacancy engineering in LSBs are put forward.

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摘要

锂硫电池高能量密度和低成本的特点使其具有广阔的应用前景。然而，锂硫电池所存在的诸多问题，特别是穿梭效应，严重地阻碍了锂硫电池的进一步发展。因此，研究人员设计出许多新颖的功能材料用来抑制穿梭效应，促进锂硫电池的发展。近年来，空位工程因其独特的电子结构引起了研究人员的广泛关注，因此本文旨在分析空位工程在锂硫电池中的应用。首先，对锂硫电池的电化学机理进行了系统地论述，并提出了锂硫电池存在的挑战和改进策略。我们还总结了各种空位的制备方法和表征技术，包括氧空位、硫空位、硒空位、其他阴离子空位、阳离子空位等。随后，本文针对空位工程在锂硫电池中的最新应用进行了详细的论述。最后，对空位工程在锂硫电池中的进一步研究和实际应用提出了展望和见解。

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Qingdao Post-doctoral Applied Research Project (No. QDBSH20220202040), the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, China (No. ZR2021QE192), and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2018M63074).

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  1. Wen-Dong Liu, Xiao Tang and Jun-An Feng have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Physics, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qingdao University, Qingdao, 266071, China

    Wen-Dong Liu, Xiao Tang, Jun-An Feng, Chao-Yue Zhang, Chuan Shi & Jian-Jun Song

  2. Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Hebei Agricultural University, Baoding, 071001, China

    Xiao-Xian Zhao

  3. Faculty of Science, Centre for Clean Energy Technology, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia

    Hao Liu

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Liu, WD., Tang, X., Feng, JA. et al. Recent advances in vacancy engineering for reliable lithium-sulfur batteries. Rare Met. 43, 455–477 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-023-02417-7

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