Highly Effective Trapping-Conversion Interface Based on Nickel-Modified Versatile Carbon Skeleton Enabled High-Performance Li–S Battery

The development of comprehension in the mechanism of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries creates more opportunities and potential for the application of interlayer. However, the viable design of versatile interlayer to retard the shuttling effects and improve the sluggish kinetics is still a focus and paramount challenge. Herein, we present a tentacles-like metallic nickel-modified and nitrogen-doped carbon skeleton (NCS) to serve as adsorbent and catalyst in the lithium–sulfur battery (LSBs). The carbonized skeleton and derived carbon tubes jointly construct conductive networks and adequate ion pathways. Meanwhile, abundant metallic nickel nanoparticles synergistically build a multifunctional interface with polar networks for the fixation and conversion of polysulfides, giving rise to significant improvement of cyclic stability and reaction kinetics of LSBs. As a result, the Li–S batteries using NCS as an interlayer could possess superior electrochemical performance including cyclic stability, high specific capacity (1204.8 mAh g–1 at 0.2C, 998.7 mAh g–1 at 1C), and good Coulombic efficiency. More importantly, even with the areal sulfur loading of up to 6.1 and 7.5 mg cm–2, it still demonstrates superior electrochemical performance with the areal capacity of 4.2 and 5.9 mAh cm–2 with steady cycling, respectively. In conclusion, we confirm this work provides a promising way to explore and expand the application of metal nanoparticles in interlayers for advanced Li–S batteries.