Densely Branched Carbon Nanotubes for Boosting the Electrochemical Performance of Li‐S Batteries

Abstract

AbstractTo address the inherent limitations of conventional carbon nanotubes (CNTs), such as their tendency to agglomerate and scarcity of catalytic sites, the development of branched carbon nanotubes (BCNTs) with a unique hierarchical structure has emerged as a promising solution. Herein, gram scale quantities of densely branched and structurally consistent Ni−Fe decorated branched CNTs (Ni−Fe@BCNT) have been prepared. This uniform and densely branched architecture ensures excellent dispersibility and superior electrical conductivity. Additionally, each branched tip is equipped with Ni−Fe particles, thereby providing numerous catalytic sites which endow them with exceptional catalytic activity for the conversion of polysulfides. The polypropylene (PP) separator modified with Ni−Fe@BCNT interlayer is fabricated as a multifunctional barrier for Li–S batteries. The experimental results demonstrate that Ni−Fe@BCNT interlayer can effectively suppress the shuttle effect of polysulfides and enhance their redox kinetics. The outstanding catalytic ability of Ni−Fe@BCNT interlayer enables batteries with high specific capacities, outstanding rate performance, and remarkable cycling stability. This approach proposed in this work paves a new path for synthesizing BCNTs and shows great potential for scaling up the production of BCNTs to address more demanding applications.