Rutile titanium dioxide and graphene-like OCN tailoring free-standing carbon fiber aerogel as polysulfide anchoring materials for lithium–sulfur batteries

The rational design of a host material with strong adsorption and excellent electrical conductivity function for sulfur cathode to suppress the shuttle effects of soluble lithium polysulfide (LiPS) is crucial to advance the lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery for future commercial applications. In this work, we designed a three-dimensional (3D) carbon fiber aerogel with graphene-like oxygenated carbon nitrogen (OCN) and TiO2 (OCNF–TiO2) as a sulfur anchoring material for Li–S battery and explored the regulating effects of TiO2 on the electrochemical performances. The OCNF–TiO2/S cathode presents an initial discharge-specific capacity of 1039 mAh/g (0.1C), a rate capacity of 690 mAh/g at 1C, a cycling performance with a capacitance retention of 72.1%, and the decay of 0.13% per cycle after 200 cycles at 0.5C.