Ying Tao

Abstract: The detrimental shuttle effect in lithium–sulfur batteries mainly results from the mobility of soluble polysulfide intermediates and their sluggish conversion kinetics. Herein, presented is a multifunctional catalyst with the merits of strong polysulfides adsorption ability, superior polysulfides conversion activity, high specific surface area, and electron conductivity by in situ crafting of the TiO2‐MXene (Ti3C2Tx) heterostructures. The uniformly distributed TiO2 on MXene sheets act as capturing centers to immobilize polysulfides, the hetero‐interface ensures rapid diffusion of anchored polysulfides from TiO2 to MXene, and the oxygen‐terminated MXene surface is endowed with high catalytic activity toward polysulfide conversion. The improved lithium–sulfur batteries deliver 800 mAh g−1 at 2 C and an ultralow capacity decay of 0.028% per cycle over 1000 cycles at 2 C. Even with a high sulfur loading of 5.1 mg cm−2, the capacity retention of 93% after 200 cycles is still maintained. This work sheds new insights into the design of high‐performance catalysts with manipulated chemical components and tailored surface chemistry to regulate polysulfides in Li–S batteries.

TL;DR: The first gelation of MXenes in an aqueous dispersion that is initiated by divalent metal ions is reported, where the strong interaction between these ions and OH groups on the MXene surface plays a key role.

TL;DR: It is pioneeringly demonstrated that decorating the Zn surface with a dual-functional metallic indium (In) layer, acting as both a corrosion inhibitor and a nucleating agent, is a facile but effective strategy to suppress both drastic corrosion and dendrite growth.

TL;DR: In this article, a 3D structured hydrogel from 2D MXene sheets that is assisted by graphene oxide and a suitable reductant is reported to achieve a superb capacitance up to 370 F g−1 at 5 A G−1.