Abstract:

Room-temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) battery is regarded as a highly competitive electrochemical energy storage system because of the abundant natural resources, low cost, and excellent energy density. However, the serious shuttle effect and sluggish reaction kinetics are two major obstacles restricting the sustainable development and practical applications of RT Na-S batteries. Incorporating suitable catalysts into sulfur cathodes is widely proved as an effective strategy to inhibit the shuttle effect of polysulfides and promote their redox kinetics, thus becoming the research focus in this field. In this review, mainstream catalysts for sulfur cathodes in RT Na-S batteries are first summarized from the perspective of materials design and optimization, including metals, metal oxides, metal sulfides, metal nitrides, metal carbides, MXenes, single atoms, and others. Then, various effective strategies to regulate adsorption and catalysis properties are discussed, involving size tailoring, defect engineering, electrochemical sodiation, and heterostructure engineering. Finally, the future development tendency of catalysts is pointed out based on their research status, and prospects regarding future developmental directions of RT Na-S batteries are offered in view of the major challenges facing RT Na-S batteries, involving two aspects of fundamental research and practical design.

Key words: room-temperature Na-S batteries, shuttle effect, catalyst, kinetics