title: Nickel Hydroxide-Modified Sulfur/Carbon Composite as a High-Performance Cathode Material for Lithium Sulfur Battery.
abstract: Tailored sulfur cathode is vital for the development of a high performance lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery. A surface modification on the sulfur/carbon composite would be an efficient strategy to enhance the cycling stability. Herein, we report a nickel hydroxide-modified sulfur/conductive carbon black composite (Ni(OH)2@S/CCB) as the cathode material for the Li-S battery through the thermal treatment and chemical precipitation method. In this composite, the sublimed sulfur is stored in the CCB, followed by a surface modification of Ni(OH)2 nanoparticles with size of 1-2 nm. As a cathode for the Li-S battery, the as-prepared Ni(OH)2@S/CCB electrode exhibits better cycle stability and higher rate discharge capacity, compared with the bare S/CCB electrode. The improved performance is largely due to the introduction of Ni(OH)2 surface modification, which can effectively suppress the "shuttle effect" of polysulfides, resulting in enhanced cycling life and higher capacity.
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Qing
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Xiu-Li
authors.initials: XL
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Dong-Huang
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Yi-Di
authors.initials: YD
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: ‡Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Science, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637371, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: †State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, China.
authors.forename: Jiang-Ping
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tu
keywords: cycle stability; lithium sulfur battery; nickel hydroxide; sulfur cathode; surface modification