Spherical hybrid hierarchical porous structure: A plastic model with tunable inner pores for lithium-sulfur batteries

Abstract

Designing controllable porous structures with hybrid components is of widespread interest for lithium sulfur batteries (LSBs), which is helpful to selecting an optimal sulfur host. Here, we establish a facile route to three-dimensional hierarchical porous structures based on the dopamine surface-functionalization of silica nanoparticles. This strategy enables in-situ transformation of molybdenum dioxide particles into building blocks owing to the ability of dopamine coordinated with molybdate ions. Through aperture analysis and electrochemical measurements, these hosts manifest their respective superiority in sulfur fixation By contrast, the hierarchical porous structure with inner pores of 50 nm and interlocking pores exhibits a superior comprehensive performance than the other samples. Our work also proposes a universal and highly controllable strategy in constructing more powerful porous structures for LSBs or other applications.