Improved cycling stability of the capping agent-free nanocrystalline FeS₂ cathode via an upper cut-off voltage control

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• 作者：Shuang Cheng ; Jian Wang ; Hongzhen Lin ; Wanfei Li&#8230
• 刊名：Journal of Materials Science
• 出版年：2017
• 出版时间：March 2017
• 年：2017
• 卷：52
• 期：5
• 页码：2442-2451
• 全文大小：
• 刊物类别：Chemistry and Materials Science
• 刊物主题：Materials Science, general; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Polymer Sciences; Continuum Mechanics and Mechanics of Materials; Crystallography and Scattering Methods; Classical Mechanics;
• 出版者：Springer US
• ISSN：1573-4803
• 卷排序：52

文摘

Transition metal chalcogenides such as FeS₂ are promising electrode materials for energy storage. However, poor rate performance and low cycling stability hinder the practical application of FeS₂ cathode in secondary batteries. In this study, highly pure pyrite FeS₂ nanocrystals (NCs) with octahedral shape and 200–300 nm size have been synthesized via a facile and environmentally benign approach based on a surfactant-free aqueous reaction. Combined with a compatible ether electrolyte, the prepared FeS₂ NCs, despite their dimension far beyond the quantum confined regime, could achieve high utilization and reversibility as a cathode active material due to the well-defined crystal structure and the uncapped rough surfaces. Furthermore, we find that the last charging voltage step of FeS₂ only contributes a minor capacity but caused severe capacity fading due to the formation of soluble polysulfides. By suppressing this step through setting a proper upper cut-off voltage, the cycle life of the Li/FeS₂ cell is dramatically improved. The Li/FeS₂ cell running over a voltage window of 1.0–2.4 V at 1C delivers an initial capacity of 486.1 mA h g−1, slightly lower than that running over 1.0–3.0 V (561.1 mA h g−1), but outperforms the latter substantially after 500 cycles (367 mA h g−1 vs 315 mA h g−1), corresponding to a capacity decay rate as low as 0.048% per cycle. Our results provide a meaningful approach for the development of not only the advanced FeS₂ material for long-life rechargeable batteries, but also other transition metal chalcogenide nanomaterials for a variety of potential applications.