Sulfur confined MXene hosts enabling the use of carbonate-based electrolytes in alkali metal (Li/Na/K)-sulfur batteries

Abstract

Room-temperature alkali metal–sulfur batteries are promising alternatives to lithium-ion batteries because of their high capacity and low inherent cost. Herein, we report MXene (Ti3C2Tx) as a host to confine sulfur (S8), enabling the use of commercialization-friendly carbonate electrolyte in metal–sulfur batteries. The multilayer MXene structure provides tunable spacing for S8 confinement, and its unique interlayer spacing prevents adverse polysulfide-carbonate reactions.