A flexible and conductive MXene-coated fabric integrated with in situ sulfur loaded MXene nanosheets for long-life rechargeable Li–S batteries

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries with high energy density, which show great application potential in flexible electronic products, have attracted a lot of research enthusiasm. However, the low utilization of sulfur and shuttle effect limit the application of Li–S batteries. Materials with a void structure and high conductivity can be used as a sulfur host to overcome these issues. Herein, a flexible MXene-coated textile fabric electrode (MF@Ti₃C₂T_x/S) is designed by integrating the MXene-coated textile fabric (MF) with in situ sulfur loaded MXene nanosheets (Ti₃C₂T_x/S). The MF provides a flexible 3D conductive framework, which is covered with Ti₃C₂T_x/S nanosheets to form the layer-by-layer structure. This unique structure not only provides enough space for volume expansion to maintain the structural stability in the electrochemical process, but also promotes the physical encapsulation and chemical adsorption of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs). Consequently, the MF@Ti₃C₂T_x/S50 electrode exhibits a high initial capacity of 916 mA h g⁻¹ at 1C and an ultralong-term cycling stability of 674 mA h g⁻¹ at 1C after 1000 cycles. Furthermore, this electrode also exhibits excellent rate performance at a high energy density (290 mA h g⁻¹ at 5C after 800 cycles). A pouch cell is prepared by using the MF@Ti₃C₂T_x/S50 electrode and shows excellent cycle performances at different bending angles, which indicates that this study is valuable in the field of flexible energy storage. This work provides a new concept design for flexible Li–S batteries, which have great application potential as wearable and portable electronic devices.