Accelerated Reversible Conversion of Li2S2 to Li2S by Spidroin Regulated Li+ Flux for High-performance Li-Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Regulating the transformation of sulfur species is the key to improving the electrochemical performance of lithium-sulfur (Li−S) batteries, in particular, to accelerate the reversible conversion between solid phase Li₂S₂ and Li₂S. Herein, we introduced Spidroin, which is a main protein in spider silk, as a dual functional separator coating in Li−S batteries to effectively adsorb polysulfides via the sequence of amino acids in its primary structure and regulate Li⁺ flux through the β-sheet of its secondary structure, thus accelerating the reversible transformation between Li₂S₂ and Li₂S. Spidroin-based Li−S cells exhibited an exceptional electrochemical performance with a high specific capacity of 744.1 mAh g⁻¹ at 5 C and a high areal capacity of 7.5 mAh cm⁻² at a low electrolyte-to-sulfur (E/S) ratio of 6 μL mg_s⁻¹ and a sulfur loading of 8.6 mg_s cm⁻².