Abstract
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The electron-deficient property of the atoms in functional materials endow them with tunable adsorption and catalysis effects on polysulfides, thus improving the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries. In this work, Li2B4O7 nanoparticles, which have abundant electron deficiencies derived from the [BO3] Lewis acid units, were uniformly cladded in the carbon nanofibers (LBO-CNF) and employed as interlayers for Li-S batteries. This functionalized interlayer expressed a high adsorption energy of ���3.6 eV for polysulfides (e.g., Li2S6 and Li2S4) and effectively suppressed the polysulfides' shuttle behavior, delivering a high reversible capacity of 1242.6 mA h g���1 at 0.2C and good cycling performance with a low fading rate of 0.068% per cycle at 1C, thus effectually inhibiting the phenomenon of self-discharge. Besides, the lithiation reaction kinetics was also effectively enhanced, enhancing the rate performance of the battery to 644 mA h g���1 at 5C. This work provides a new strategy to enhance the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries by applying the compounds of electronic-deficiency B-species and functionalized carbon.