Nickel Oxide Decorated Halloysite Nanotubes as Sulfur Host Materials for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Abstract Lithium–sulfur batteries with high energy density still confront many challenges, such as polysulfide dissolution, the large volume change of sulfur, and fast capacity fading in long‐term cycling. Herein, a naturally abundant clay material, halloysite, is introduced as a sulfur host material in the cathode of Li–S batteries. Nickel oxide nanoparticles are embedded into the halloysite nanotubes (NiO@Halloysite) by hydrothermal and calcination treatment to improve the affinity of halloysite nanotubes to polysulfides. The NiO@Halloysite composite loaded with sulfur (S/NiO@Halloysite) is employed as the cathode of Li–S batteries, which combines the physical confinements of tubular halloysite particles and good chemical adsorption ability of NiO. The S/NiO@Halloysite electrode exhibits a high discharge capacity of 1205.47 mAh g −1 at 0.1 C. In addition, it demonstrates enhanced cycling stability, retaining ≈60% of initial capacity after 450 cycles at 0.5 C. The synthesized NiO@Halloysite can provide a promising prospect and valuable insight into applying natural clay materials in Li–S batteries.