Interfacial polymerization achieved integration of pore size adjustment, electrostatic repulsion and physical adsorption into one to inhibit polysulfide shuttle for enhanced lithium–sulfur battery

Abstract

The application of lithium-sulfur battery is seriously hindered by the shuttle of dissolved polysulfide between sulfur cathode and lithium anode, by which is not selectively inhibited by the conventional separator. Developing functional separator is considered as a preferred solution for this issue, but it is always challenged by the tedious preparation process. Herein, interfacial polymerization (IP) is employed to modify the surface property of ZrO2 nanoparticles embedded polyetherimide (PZ) based separator, and the integration of pore size adjustment, electrostatic repulsion and physical adsorption into one is facilely achieved to effectively inhibit the polysulfide shuttle. Consequently, the optimized PZ separator presents a high lithium-ion transference number (0.55) and diffusion coefficient (2.16 × 10−8 cm s−1). Compared with the pristine one, the electrochemical performance of the assembled lithium-sulfur battery is obviously enhanced, and an initial discharge specific capacity of 1242 mAh g−1 and a capacity retention of 68 % after 200 cycles are obtained.