A hybrid shell material with mixed ion/electron conductivity used for high-performance Li-S batteries.

ABSTRACT

A hybrid shell material of hollow Nb2O5 microspheres has been engineered as an effective sulfur host for use in Li-S batteries. Of particular note is that the selected Nb2O5 not only exhibits ultrafast Li+ motion properties due to its unique room-and-pillar NbO6/NbO7 framework structure, but also demonstrates moderate polar affinities to the lithium polysulfides based on theoretical calculations.