Reduced graphene oxide/TiO2(B) nanocomposite-modified separator as an efficient inhibitor of polysulfide shuttling in Li-S batteries

Peng Chen; Zexi Wang; Bingyu Zhang; Heng Liu; Wanqiang Liu; Jianxun Zhao; Zhihua Ma; Wenyue Dong; Zhongmin Su

doi:10.1039/c9ra10185c

Reduced graphene oxide/TiO₂(B) nanocomposite-modified separator as an efficient inhibitor of polysulfide shuttling in Li-S batteries

RSC Adv. 2020 Jan 28;10(8):4538-4544. doi: 10.1039/c9ra10185c. eCollection 2020 Jan 24.

Authors

Peng Chen^{1

2

3}, Zexi Wang¹, Bingyu Zhang¹, Heng Liu¹, Wanqiang Liu^{1

2

3}, Jianxun Zhao^{1

2}, Zhihua Ma^{1

2

3}, Wenyue Dong^{1

2

3}, Zhongmin Su^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changchun University of Science and Technology Changchun 130022 China [email protected].
² Engineering Research Center of Optoelectronic Functional Materials, Ministry of Education China.
³ Jilin Provincial Science and Technology Innovation Center of Optical Materials and Chemistry China.

Abstract

The shutting effect in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries hinders their widespread application, which can be restrained effectively by a modified separator. In this work, a composite of reduced graphene oxide and beta-phase TiO₂ nanoparticles (RGO/TiO₂(B)) is designed as a separator modification material for improving the electrochemical behavior of Li-S batteries. The TiO₂(B) nanoparticles are in situ prepared and tightly adhere to the RGO layer. A series of examinations demonstrated that the RGO/TiO₂(B)-coated separator efficiently inhibits the polysulfide shuttling phenomenon by the cooperative effect of physical adsorption and chemical binding. Specifically, as modified separators, a comparison between TiO₂(B) and anatase TiO₂(A) each composited with RGO has been conducted. The TiO₂(B) sample not only exhibits a superior blocking character of migrating polysulfides, but also enhances battery electrochemical kinetics by fast Li ion diffusion.