N-doped porous carbon decorated with Fe2O3 via catalyzing polysulfide for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

Limited due to the severe shuttle effect, the wide application of lithium-sulfur batteries is difficult to achieve. To overcome this problem, various materials with catalytic effect are developed to inhibit the polysulfide shuttle effect. Herein, we synthesized N-doped porous carbon/Fe2O3 composite (NPC/FO)–efficient catalysts to promote the polysulfide conversion during the electrochemical cycles. Owing to the superior catalytic effect of NPC/FO composite host, the polysulfide shuttle effect could be inhibited. As a result, the as-prepared NPC/FO@S cathode delivered initial high capacity of 1288 mAh/g at 0.1 C. In addition, the NPC/FO@S cathode exhibits excellent rate performance and stable cycling performance. Our finding demonstrates that the N-doped porous carbon/Fe2O3 composites are new efficient host materials for lithium-sulfur batteries.