Rutile TiO2 Mesocrystals as Sulfur Host for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Although Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are one of the most promising rechargeable batteries in energy storage devices, the poor cycling performance of Li-S batteries restricts their potential application. The polar materials can improve the cycling stability due to their inherent strong chemical interaction with polysulfides. Herein, a novel rutile TiO2 mesocrystals (RTMs) was employed as the host of sulfur in Li-S, displaying a stable cycling performance with a capacity retention of 64% and a small average capacity decay rate of 0.12% per cycle over 300 cycles at 1 C rate. The good electrochemical property was attributed to the inside ordered nanopores of RTMs which can effectively limit the dissolution of polysulfides, and the ultrafine nanowires in RTMs shorten the path for lithium-ion transport effectively.