A synergistic modification of polypropylene separator toward stable lithium–sulfur battery

Lithium sulfur batteries have widespread applications in many different fields ranging from electric vehicles to portable electronic devices. Design and development of advanced separators that can inhibit the polysulfide shuttling is critical for the development of lithium sulfur battery. Herein, we report a synergistic modification of polypropylene (PP) separator using multiwall carbon nanotubes loaded with CeO2 nanoparticles (MWCNTs/CeO2). Due to the high polysulfide affinity of CeO2, such a modification enables effective prevention of polysulfide transport through the separator. Besides, MWCNTs in the modification layer also block polysulfides shuttling by physical adsorption and regulate the charge transfer by function as a secondary current collector. As a result of this functional synergy, lithium sulfur battery assembled with PP- MWCNTs/CeO2 separator shows stable discharge performance with a capacity of 520.7 mAh g-1 retained after 300 cycles.