From pollution to energy storage: leveraging hydrogen sulfide with SU-101 cathodes in lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Despite growing interest in developing metal–organic frameworks to capture toxic emissions, the potential for revalorizing these emissions has largely been overlooked. Captivated by the unique ability of SU-101 to transform H₂S into polysulfides spontaneously, here we demonstrate how this remarkable capability can be leveraged to power lithium–sulfur batteries. Our proof-of-concept demonstrates how hydrogen sulfide emissions, efficiently captured by the SU-101 metal–organic framework, can be directly converted and utilized in a lithium–sulfur battery. Despite demonstrating a modest initial capacity of about 85 mA h g⁻¹ and capacity retention of approximately 54%, analogous to other MOF-based Li–S batteries reported in the literature, the SU-101-Sat cathode delivered a durable and stable performance across 1000 cycles and maintained 99.87% coulombic efficiency. The stable response is credited to the controlled release of polysulfides generated from captured hydrogen sulfide. Such resilience is advantageous for developing compact batteries for extended use in special applications, including wearable technology, satellite components, and weather monitoring instruments. These findings open new pathways for waste valorization by employing metal–organic frameworks designed to spontaneously convert toxic gas emissions into valuable feedstocks, serving as potential candidates for more sustainable electrochemical energy conversion and storage devices.