Short Multi‐Walled Carbon Nanotubes Loaded Sulfur Nanoparticles for High Performance Lithium‐Sulfur Batteries

Abstract Lithium‐sulfur (Li−S) batteries have been regarded as a promising candidate for next‐generation high‐performance energy storage devices because of their advantages in high energy density. However, practical uses of Li−S batteries have been hindered by their poor rate performances and dissatisfactory capacity decay during cycling. In this work, we demonstrate carbon based coating material combined with short multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (S‐CNTs) to form coating cathode (S‐CNTs@S) in the Li−S battery system. The S‐CNTs@S cathode not only facilitates fast diffusion of electrons, but also efficiently inhibits diffusion of poly‐sulfide components. Importantly, the inter‐shell space of S‐CNTs is conducive to the diffusion of electrolyte, which improves the migration efficiency of lithium‐ions, then improves the rated performances of the Li−S battery. Thus, the excellent cycle stability and Coulombic efficiency with high sulfur loading (3 mg cm −2 ) were demonstrated in durable Li−S coin cell.