CoFe2O4 nanoparticles modified amidation of N-doped carbon nanofibers hybrid catalysts to accelerate electrochemical kinetics of Li-S batteries with high sulfur loading

Lithium-sulfur battery have been considered as promising energy storage devices because of its superiority in energy density. However, the low active material utilization, low sulfur loading, shuttle effect and torpid kinetics of polysulfides, and poor cycling stability limit its commercial applications. Herein, the functionalized nitrogen doped carbon nanofibers containing amide groups were designed by electrospun and polyamidoamine dendrimer (PAMAM) solution impregnation techniques. The obtained amide groups modified nitrogen-doped carbon nanofibers (ANF) were combined with spinel CoFe2O4 (CFO) nanoparticles (CFOANF) via hydrothermal method to design as membrane electrode containing Li2S6 catholyte for lithium-sulfur batteries. The introduction of nitrogen doped and amide groups modified ANF can increase fibers polarity, which have chemical adsorption capability toward lithium polysulfides. CFO nanoparticles can further absorb the soluble polysulfides by strong chemical interaction due to its intrinsic polarity and also serve as a catalyst to promote the redox kinetics of polysulfides conversion. Benefiting from the synergism of the physical confinement, polar chemical adsorption, and catalytic conversion, the as-prepared CFOANF delivers excellent electrochemical performances at high sulfur loading. The as-prepared CFOANF membrane with 6.3 mg cm−2 sulfur loading delivers a high initial capacity of 940 mAh g−1 and excellent long-term cycling stability up to 450 cycles with a low decay rate 0.059 % per cycle at 0.2C. Remarkably, even at 12.6 mg cm−2 and 16.4 mg cm−2 sulfur loading, the CFOANF membrane electrodes show high capacity of 9.7 mAh cm−2 and 11.8 mAh cm−2, respectively. The results show that the chemically anchoring polysulfides and catalyzing redox reaction by multifunctional CFOANF hybrid composite is promising for assembling with a high sulfur loading electrode, which exhibits a superior electrochemical performance in lithium-sulfur batteries.