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A Protein‐Based Janus Separator for Trapping Polysulfides and Regulating Ion Transport in Lithium−Sulfur Batteries
Author(s) -
Chen Min,
Fu Xuewei,
Liu Jin,
Chen Zhiping,
Zhong WeiHong
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.202100568
Subject(s) - separator (oil production) , polysulfide , janus , chemical engineering , electrochemistry , materials science , lithium–sulfur battery , electrospinning , nanotechnology , conductivity , dendrite (mathematics) , chemistry , electrode , composite material , electrolyte , physics , geometry , mathematics , engineering , thermodynamics , polymer
Lithium−sulfur (Li−S) batteries are a promising candidate for the next‐generation energy storage system, yet their commercialization is primarily hindered by polysulfide shuttling and uncontrollable Li dendrite growth. Here, a protein‐based Janus separator was designed and fabricated for suppressing both the shuttle effect and dendrite growth, while facilitating the Li + transport. The Li metal‐protecting layer was a protein/MoS 2 nanofabric with high ionic conductivity and good Li + affinity, thus capable of homogenizing the Li + flux and facilitating the Li + transport. The polysulfide‐trapping layer was a conductive protein nanofabric enabling strong chemical/electrostatic interactions with polysulfides. Combination of the two layers was achieved by an integrated electrospinning method, yielding a robust and integral Janus separator. As a result, a long‐lived symmetric Li|Li cell (>700 h) with stable cycling performance was demonstrated. More significantly, the resulting Li−S battery delivered greatly improved electrochemical performance, including excellent rate capacity and remarkable cycle stability (with a low decay rate of 0.063 % per cycle at 0.5 A g −1 over 500 cycles). This study demonstrates the effectiveness of the Janus separator configurations for simultaneously addressing the shuttle effect and dendrite growth issues of Li−S batteries and broadens the applications of electrospinning in electrochemistry community.