Encapsulating Metal-Organic-Foam Derived Nanocages into a Microcapsule for Shuttle Effect-Suppressive Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Long-term stable secondary batteries are highly required. Here, we report a unique microcapsule encapsulated with metal organic foams (MOFs)-derived Co3 O4 nanocages for a Li-S battery, which displays good lithium-storage properties. ZIF-67 dodecahedra are prepared at room temperature then converted to porous Co3 O4 nanocages, which are infilled into microcapsules through a microfluidic technique. After loading sulfur, the Co3 O4 /S-infilled microcapsules are obtained, which display a specific capacity of 935 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles at 0.5C in Li-S batteries. A Coulombic efficiency of about 100% is achieved. The constructed Li-S battery possesses a high rate-performance during three rounds of cycling. Moreover, stable performance is verified under both high and low temperatures of 50◦ C and −10◦ C. Density functional theory calculations show that the Co3 O4 dodecahedra display large binding energies with polysulfides, which are able to suppress shuttle effect of polysulfides and enable a stable electrochemical performance.