Petal-like metal cobalt decorating carbon cloth as an effective host for flexible sulfur cathode.

Recently, lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) have attracted much attention due to their high theoretical capacity, low cost, and abundant sulfur resources in nature. However, the low conductivity of sulfur and the "shuttle effect" of lithium polysulfides (LPSs) severely limited its commercial application. In this work, metal cobalt-decorated carbon cloth composites (Co/CC) were prepared by a simple hydrothermal method, and used as S host in LSBs. SEM and TEM images exhibited that countless petal-like metal cobalt nanoparticles were uniformly supported on carbon cloth fibers. The high electrical conductivity and special fiber structure of the carbon cloth are beneficial to the transmission of electrons and Li⁺ during electrochemical process. Meanwhile, the metal cobalt can adsorb the LPSs and accelerate its conversion. Therefore, compared with CC–S electrode, the Co/CC–S electrode presented better electrochemical performance, at a higher sulfur loading of 2.5 mg cm⁻², and it delivered a reversible capacity of 249.0 mA h g⁻¹ after 500 cycles at 1C with a low-capacity decay of 0.018% per cycle. Even at a high sulfur loading of 4.3 mg cm⁻², the Co/CC–S electrode can present a reversible capacity of 273.3 mA h g⁻¹ after 180 cycles. This work provided a new idea for the application of CC in flexible and wearable LSBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]