Few-Layer Boron Nitride with Engineered Nitrogen Vacancies for Promoting Conversion of Polysulfide as a Cathode Matrix for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li-S) batteries have become one of the most promising candidates as next-generation batteries, owing to their high specific capacity, low cost, and environmental benignity. Although many strategies have been proposed to restrain the shuttle of lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) through physical trapping and chemical binding, the sluggish kinetics of PS conversion still degrade the capacity, rate, and cycling performance of Li-S batteries. Herein, a novel kind of few-layer BN with engineered nitrogen vacancies (v-BN) has been developed as a cathode matrix for Li-S batteries. The positive vacancies in the BN nanosheets not only promote the immobilization and conversion of LiPSs, but also accelerate the lithium ion diffusion in cathode electrodes. Compared with pristine BN, the v-BN cathodes exhibit higher initial capacities from 775 mA h g⁻¹ to 1262 mA h g⁻¹ at 0.1 C and a high average coulombic efficiency of over 98 % during 150 cycles. Upon increasing the current density to 1 C, the cell still preserves a capacity of 406 mA h g⁻¹ after 500 cycles, exhibiting a capacity decay of only 0.084 % per cycle. The new vacancy-engineered material provides a promising method for achieving excellent performance in Li-S batteries.