Self-reduction preparation of porous multi-walled ZnCo2O4 spheres as sulfur host for lithium?sulfur battery cathodes with long cycling life and stable rate-performance

Current lithium?sulfur (LiS) batteries have some severe issues such as shuttle effect of polysulfides and volumetric expansion sulfur, even though their high theoretical energy density is attractive. Herein, we present a porous multi-walled ZnCo2O4 sphere prepared by self-reduction approach sulfur host for LiS battery cathode. During the annealing an inorganic-organic hybrid precursor, spheres are partially reduced released carbon monoxide, resulting in formation ZnO CoO nanoparticles which subsequently etched acid, finally forming mesopores throughout spheres. The provides sufficient space accommodating change sulfur. adsorption measurements show that can adsorb efficiently, suppresses effect. After cycling 1000 times at rate 0.5C, ZnCo2O4@S composite remains capacity 590 mAh g?1. rate-performance well recoverable during repeated tests. Moreover, capacities relatively low temperatures ? 5 50 °C 654 619 g?1 after 100 cycles, respectively, indicating potential applications