Received 2 Jul 2012 | Accepted 23 Nov 2012 | Published 8 Jan 2013 | Zhi Wei Seh1*, Weiyang Li1*, Judy J. Cha1, Guangyuan Zheng2, Yuan Yang1, Matthew T. McDowell1, Po-Chun Hsu1 & Yi Cui1,3
The paper presents a novel design of a sulphur-TiO₂ yolk-shell nanoarchitecture with internal void space to address the challenges of volume expansion and polysulfide dissolution in lithium-sulfur batteries. The unique structure allows for the accommodation of sulfur's volumetric expansion during lithiation, maintaining the structural integrity of the TiO₂ shell and minimizing polysulfide dissolution. This design achieves an initial specific capacity of 1,030 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.5 C and a Coulombic efficiency of 98.4% over 1,000 cycles, with a capacity decay of only 0.033% per cycle, representing the best performance for long-cycle lithium-sulfur batteries to date. The study highlights the importance of considering both electronic conductivity and volumetric expansion in the design of high-performance cathode materials for rechargeable batteries.The paper presents a novel design of a sulphur-TiO₂ yolk-shell nanoarchitecture with internal void space to address the challenges of volume expansion and polysulfide dissolution in lithium-sulfur batteries. The unique structure allows for the accommodation of sulfur's volumetric expansion during lithiation, maintaining the structural integrity of the TiO₂ shell and minimizing polysulfide dissolution. This design achieves an initial specific capacity of 1,030 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.5 C and a Coulombic efficiency of 98.4% over 1,000 cycles, with a capacity decay of only 0.033% per cycle, representing the best performance for long-cycle lithium-sulfur batteries to date. The study highlights the importance of considering both electronic conductivity and volumetric expansion in the design of high-performance cathode materials for rechargeable batteries.