Lithium cobaltate: a novel host material enables high-rate and stable lithium–sulfur batteries

Element sulfur is highly attractive due to their potentially low cost and environmental compatibility. However, polysulfides dissolution hinders the lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries toward commercialization. To overcome these issues, in this work, lithium cobaltate as a commercial material, for the first time, was devoted to engineering the electrode structure and composition to improve the performance. When incorporated with 80% sulfur powder, the synergetic effects of cobalt atoms and interlayer spaces effectively enable the production of Li–S batteries with a relatively high discharge capacity of 1420 mAh·g⁻¹ at the low surface current density of 1 mA·cm⁻² and stable capacity retention of 650 mAh·g⁻¹ at high surface current density of 6 mA·cm⁻². The introduction of lithium cobaltate is a viable approach for successfully developing practical Li–S batteries.