Coupled Ni─Co Dual‐Atom Catalyst for Guiding Sulfur and Lithium Evolutions in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract The kinetically retarded sulfur evolution reactions and notorious lithium dendrites as the major obstacles hamper the practical implementation of lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs). Dual metal atom catalysts as a new model are expected to show higher activity by their rational coupling. Herein, the dual‐atom catalyst with coupled Ni─Co atom pairs (Ni/Co‐DAC) is designed successfully by programmed approaches. The Ni─Co atom pairs alter the local electron structure and optimize the coordination configuration of Ni/Co‐DAC, leading to the coupling effect for promoting the interconversion of sulfur and guiding lithium plating/striping. The LSB delivers a remarkable capacity of 818 mA h g −1 at 3.0 C and a low degeneration rate of 0.053% per cycle over 500 cycles. Moreover, the LSB with a high sulfur mass loading of 6.1 mg cm −2 and lean electrolyte dosage of 6.0 µL mg S −1 shows a remarkable areal capacity of 5.7 mA h cm −2 .