In Situ Reactive Synthesis of Polypyrrole-MnO2 Coaxial Nanotubes as Sulfur Hosts for High-Performance Lithium–Sulfur Battery

Lithium-sulfur batteries are considered as a promising candidate for high energy density storage applications. However, their specific capacity and cyclic stability are hindered by poor conductivity of sulfur and the dissolution of redox intermediates. Here, we design polypyrrole-MnO2 coaxial nanotubes to encapsulate sulfur, in which MnO2 restrains the shuttle effect of polysulfides greatly through chemisorption and polypyrrole serves as conductive frameworks. The polypyrrole-MnO2 nanotubes are synthesized through in situ polymerization of pyrrole using MnO2 nanowires as both template and oxidization initiator. A stable Coulombic efficiency of ∼98.6% and a decay rate of 0.07% per cycle along with 500 cycles at 1C-rate are achieved for S/PPy-MnO2 ternary electrodes with 70 wt % of S and 5 wt % of MnO2. The excellent trapping ability of MnO2 to polysulfides and tubular structure of polypyrrole with good flexibility and conductivity are responsible for the significantly improved cyclic stability and rate capability.