Coordination effect of biocatalyst dithiothreitol and aramid fiber interlayer for lithium-sulfur batteries

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries have great development potential in the field of new energy because of their high specific capacity. However, problems such as poor conductivity of sulfur (S) and "shuttle effect" hinder the practical application of Li–S batteries. In this work, dithiothreitol (DTT) was used as a coating to form a 3D crosslinked network structure with aramid paper (AP) interlayer and inhibiting the notorious shuttle effect. DTT assisted scission of disulfide bond (-S–S- bonds) in high-order polysulfides to inhibit the diffusion of polysulfides, and the loose porous AP interlayer can significantly enhance the utilization of active substances. The successful combination of DTT and AP interlayer showed significant synergistic effect, which improved the electrochemical performance of the Li–S batteries, leading to the discharge-specific capacity of 697 mAh/g at 5C.