Progress and innovation of nanostructured sulfur cathodes and metal-free anodes for room-temperature Na–S batteries

• Marina Tabuyo-Martínez,
• Bernd Wicklein and
• Pilar Aranda

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 995–1020, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.75

Design and facile synthesis of defect-rich C-MoS₂/rGO nanosheets for enhanced lithium–sulfur battery performance

• Chengxiang Tian,
• Juwei Wu,
• Zheng Ma,
• Bo Li,
• Pengcheng Li,
• Xiaotao Zu and
• Xia Xiang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 2251–2260, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.217

• composite with both large surface area and high porosity for the use as advanced electrode material in lithium–sulfur batteries. Double modified defect-rich MoS2 nanosheets are successfully prepared by introducing reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and amorphous carbon. The conductibility of the cathodes can be

• improved through the combination of amorphous carbon and rGO, which could also limit the dissolution of polysulfides. After annealing at different temperatures, it is found that the C-MoS2/rGO-6-S composite annealed at 600 °C yields a noticeably enhanced performance of lithium–sulfur batteries, with a high

• designing materials that overcome the inherent defects of lithium–sulfur batteries. The high-resolution C 1s spectrum can be deconvoluted into four peaks, as shown in Figure 4f. The peak at 284.5 eV with high intensity indicates that most C atoms in the composites can be assigned to sp2-hybridized carbon

TiO₂/GO-coated functional separator to suppress polysulfide migration in lithium–sulfur batteries

• Ning Liu,
• Lu Wang,
• Taizhe Tan,
• Yan Zhao and
• Yongguang Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1726–1736, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.168

• Ning Liu Lu Wang Taizhe Tan Yan Zhao Yongguang Zhang School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China Synergy Innovation Institute of GDUT, Heyuan 517000, China 10.3762/bjnano.10.168 Abstract Lithium–sulfur batteries render a high energy density

• batteries. Keywords: dealloying; functional separator; lithium–sulfur batteries; TiO2/GO composite; Introduction The portability of handheld electronic products and successful realization of next-generation electric vehicles urgently require advanced energy storage devices with higher storage capacity and

• excellent service life. Li-ion batteries have successfully demonstrated their promise for a wide range of small-scale applications. However, the large-scale utilization of Li-ion batteries is limited by the energy density [1][2][3][4][5]. Recently, lithium–sulfur batteries (Li/S batteries) have been widely

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes coated with zinc oxide nanoparticles as sulfur encapsulator for high-performance lithium/sulfur batteries

• Yan Zhao,
• Zhengjun Liu,
• Liancheng Sun,
• Yongguang Zhang,
• Yuting Feng,
• Xin Wang,
• Indira Kurmanbayeva and
• Zhumabay Bakenov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1677–1685, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.159

Synthesis and characterization of electrospun molybdenum dioxide–carbon nanofibers as sulfur matrix additives for rechargeable lithium–sulfur battery applications

• Ruiyuan Zhuang,
• Shanshan Yao,
• Maoxiang Jing,
• Xiangqian Shen,
• Jun Xiang,
• Tianbao Li,
• Kesong Xiao and
• Shibiao Qin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 262–270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.28

• coefficient, low interfacial resistance and much better electrochemical performance than pristine sulfur cathodes. Keywords: electrochemical performance; electrospinning; lithium–sulfur batteries; MoO2–CNFs; sulfur matrix; Introduction Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are considered to be the most promising

One-step chemical vapor deposition synthesis and supercapacitor performance of nitrogen-doped porous carbon–carbon nanotube hybrids

• Egor V. Lobiak,
• Lyubov G. Bulusheva,
• Ekaterina O. Fedorovskaya,
• Yury V. Shubin,
• Pavel E. Plyusnin,
• Pierre Lonchambon,
• Boris V. Senkovskiy,
• Zinfer R. Ismagilov,
• Emmanuel Flahaut and
• Alexander V. Okotrub

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2669–2679, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.267

• nickel hydroxide in hydrogen atmosphere [15]. The hybrid showed improved cycling stability in lithium–sulfur batteries as compared to the electrode made from porous carbon only. Cai et al. have synthesized N-doped hierarchical porous carbon–CNT hybrids using a melamine-formaldehyde resin, Fe/Co catalyst

Mesoporous hollow carbon spheres for lithium–sulfur batteries: distribution of sulfur and electrochemical performance

• Anika C. Juhl,
• Artur Schneider,
• Boris Ufer,
• Torsten Brezesinski,
• Jürgen Janek and
• Michael Fröba

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1229–1240, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.114

• the use in lithium–sulfur batteries because of the large internal void offering space for sulfur and polysulfide storage and confinement. However, there is an ongoing discussion whether the cavity is accessible for sulfur. Yet no valid proof of cavity filling has been presented, mostly due to

• mass of sulfur over 500 cycles. Keywords: carbon/sulfur composites; cycling stability; distribution of sulfur in pores; hollow carbon spheres; lithium–sulfur batteries; Introduction In the past 20 years, rechargeable lithium–ion batteries have proven to be superior energy storage devices and have

From lithium to sodium: cell chemistry of room temperature sodium–air and sodium–sulfur batteries

• Philipp Adelhelm,
• Pascal Hartmann,
• Conrad L. Bender,
• Martin Busche,
• Christine Eufinger and
• Juergen Janek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1016–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.105

• energy densities with the advantage of using abundant and thus resource-uncritical elements. Both systems have been intensively studied over the last years. For example, more than 250 publications appeared in the field of lithium–sulfur batteries in 2014 alone and about 200 publications in 2014 are

• shortcut) between both electrodes takes place. A shuttle process can be intentional (e.g., overcharge protection in LIBs) or unintentional (e.g., polysulfide shuttle in lithium–sulfur batteries). Unless it is intentional, Coulombic efficiencies exceeding 100% are always a sign of undesired side reactions

• discharge and charge [70]. Analogous to the lithium–sulfur batteries, the use of lithium nitrate (LiNO3) seems to improve the cyclability of Li/O2 cells as well. In publications by Liox Power Inc., it was shown that LiNO3 leads to an improved stability of the lithium electrode solid electrolyte interphase

Advanced atomic force microscopy techniques II

• Thilo Glatzel,
• Ricardo Garcia and
• Thomas Schimmel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2014, 5, 2326–2327, doi:10.3762/bjnano.5.241

• scientific community within the last years. Similar to the first volume [5], the development of advanced techniques and their application is the focus of this Thematic Series. Contributions related to energy conversion and storage systems have been addressed, e.g., the analysis of cathodes of lithium–sulfur

• batteries for a comparison of their nanoscale electrical, electrochemical, and morphological properties [6] or the analysis of CdS quantum dots on TiO2 by a combination of AFM and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy [7]. The folding and rupture of graphene on SiC analyzed by non-contact AFM and Kelvin probe

AFM as an analysis tool for high-capacity sulfur cathodes for Li–S batteries

• Renate Hiesgen,
• Seniz Sörgel,
• Rémi Costa,
• Linus Carlé,
• Ines Galm,
• Natalia Cañas,
• Brigitta Pascucci and
• K. Andreas Friedrich

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 611–624, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.68

• Center, Stuttgart, Germany 10.3762/bjnano.4.68 Abstract In this work, material-sensitive atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques were used to analyse the cathodes of lithium–sulfur batteries. A comparison of their nanoscale electrical, electrochemical, and morphological properties was performed with

• particles. Based on the analytical findings, the first results of an optimized cathode showed a much improved discharge capacity of 800 mA·g(sulfur)−1 after 43 cycles. Keywords: conductive AFM; high capacity; lithium-sulfur batteries; material-sensitive AFM; sulfur cathode; Introduction Lithium

• applications. Besides efficiency and energy density, numerous other requirements have to be fulfilled, which include industrial scalability and the capability for mass-production. In the last few decades, lithium–sulfur batteries have attracted increasing attention due to their high theoretical energy density