Remarkable chemical adsorption and catalysis of 3D self-supporting Zn-doped NiCo2O4 nanowires for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries are one of the most potential next-generation energy storage systems with high theoretical energy density and low cost. However, the lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) dissolution and shuttle effect limit their commercial application. Herein, the Zn-doped NiCo 2 O 4 nanowires grown on carbon cloth (ZNCO CC) are prepared by hydrothermal method and as sulfur host. ZNCO nanowires consisting of stacked nanoparticles and abundant mesopores were grown vertically on carbon fibers. The mesoporous structure of ZNCO CC provides more space to accommodate sulfur and its volume change during charging and discharging, is conducive to electrolyte infiltration and maintains strong adsorption of LiPSs to ensure fast ion transport kinetics. The ZNCO CC displays higher Co 3+ /Co 2+ and Ni 3+ /Ni 2+ ratio compared to NCO CC, and the high-valent metal cations can provide more unsaturated electron orbitals for S binding, causing high adsorption of LiPSs. Density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the Zn doping significantly reduces the band gap, improves the conductivity and increases the LiPSs adsorption energy of NCO. The ZNCO CC/Li 2 S 8 displays a high specific capacity of 1184 mAh g −1 (0.1 C) and a low decay of 0.07 %/cycle after 500 cycles (2 C). This research reveals the rational design of a doped bimetal oxide nanostructure for the improvement of lithium-sulfur batteries.