journal article·2026-06

Delocalized Electrons of p‐Block Selenium Single Atoms Achieve Synergistic Regulation of Conversion Kinetics and Lithium Deposition for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Ziyang Huang, Lei Wang, Chen Cheng, Shiqi Sheng, Zheng Zhou, Shusheng Huang, Qifan Yang, Tianran Yan, Pan Zeng, Liang Zhang

Small· Volume 22· Issue 32
Publisher page

Abstract

ABSTRACT The practical applications of lithium–sulfur (Li─S) batteries are impeded by sluggish conversion kinetics of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and uncontrolled Li dendrite growth. While introducing single‐atom catalysts (SACs) stands out as a promising strategy to overcome these issues, the p‐block SACs exhibit great potential. However, the relationship between their synergistic regulation and atomic structure remains unclear. Here, by leveraging the p‐electron delocalization induced by the p‐π conjugated effect, p‐block Se SACs were proposed to synergistically regulate the lithium/sulfur electrochemistry. The experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that the unique Se‐C 2 coordination structure of Se SACs leads to activated p‐electrons, which not only facilitates LiPSs conversion by p‐p hybridization but also generates a uniform current distribution to guide Li plating and stripping behavior. Consequently, the Li─S batteries assembled with Se SACs demonstrate a low capacity decay rate of 0.056% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 1 C and achieve a high areal capacity of 5.58 mAh cm −2 under a high sulfur loading of 6.41 mg cm −2 and a low electrolyte/sulfur ratio of 8.3 µL mg −1 . This work elucidates the synergistic regulation of Se SACs from atomic orbital level and enlightens the application of p‐block SACs in Li─S batteries.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Battery Materials and Technologies · Advancements in Battery Materials · Advanced Battery Technologies Research

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM) Soochow University Suzhou Jiangsu China

Institute For Advanced Study School of Mechanical Engineering Chengdu University Chengdu Sichuan China

Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Advanced Negative Carbon Technologies Soochow University Suzhou Jiangsu China

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province · Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project

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