ZIF-7@carbon composites as multifunctional interlayer for rapid and durable Li-S performance

The notorious “shuttle effect” of polysulfide during charge–discharge process induces grievous capacity fading, while the sluggish polysulfide conversion kinetics significantly hinders the development of practically viable lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. In this study, a novel [email protected] composite with ZIF-7 sheets vertically rooted on carbon cloth was developed as multifunctional interlayer to address these issues. The composite shows directional layered structure with outstanding compactness, and thus can provide massive active sites for accelerated redox reactions. The pore channels are perpendicular to the square surface, resulting in extremely high utilization of one-dimensional channels. Therefore, this structure can not only maintain the structural stability during the charge–discharge process by providing enough space for volume expansion, but also contribute to efficient exposure and utilization of active sites for the physical/chemical adsorption and catalytic conversion of polysulfide. As a result, Li-S batteries with the as-developed interlayer deliver a considerable areal capacity of 4.75 mAh cm−2 at an elevated sulfur loading of 5.5 mg cm−2, and an impressive cyclability with an extremely low capacity-fading rate of merely 0.04% per cycle over 500 cycles at 1 C.