Cu₂O/1T−MoS₂ Mott–Schottky heterojunction hybridized porous electrospun carbon fibers as multifunctional separator coating for Li-S batteries

The severe shuttle effect and slow reaction kinetics of polysulfides cause inferior cycling stability and unsatisfactory utilization of the sulfur active material of the next-generation lithium‑sulfur (Li-S) battery. Herein, we develop an advanced coating material containing semiconductive Cu₂O/metallic 1T-MoS₂ Mott–Schottky heterojunctions supported on porous electrospun carbon fiber (p-CFs) backbones to modify the commercial Celgard separator for enhanced the performance of Li-S batteries. The strategic synergy of the Mott–Schottky interaction, high intrinsic absorbability, excellent catalytic behavior of the components, unique honeycomb structure, and aassistance role of p-CFs furnish the proposed material with extraordinary capability in adsorption and catalysis for polysulfides, as well as Li ionic conduction. The Li-S battery (1.0 mg·cm⁻² of S loading) using the modified separator delivers excellent rate performance (880.4 mAh·g⁻¹ of specific capacity at current rate of 0.5C), and good high-rate cyclic stability (858.8 mAh·g⁻¹ after 200 cycles at 0.5C, meaning 97.5 % retention, with a low capacity decay rate of 0.012 % per cycle).