Dual-functional electrodes for high-performance lithium-sulfur cells

At present, the commercial application of Li-S cells is impeded by many challenging issues, especially the shuttle effect of dissolved lithium polysulfides (LiPSs) and severe dendritic growth. Applying a sole kind of host material owing dual functions, including inhibiting LiPSs dissolution/shuttling andguiding Li plating/stripping, has recently become a prospective solution. Currently, a systematic review of advanced dual-functional electrodes aiming at the cathode and anode side simultaneously is scarce. Herein, this review points at such dual-functional electrodes and summarizes the recent progress from the select host materials to designs. First, the rough challenges and ordinary solutions on the single side of the Li-S cell are illustrated. Then, the potentials of different materials to dual-functional electrodes are discussed, such as carbon-based materials, single-atom catalysts (SACs), transition metal compounds (TMCs), heterostructure hybrids (HHs), and polymers. After that, the design methods for dual-functional electrodes with high performance are explored and summarized by slurry-coating and self-supporting (electrospinning (ES), 3D printing (3DP), solvent method (SM), chemistry vapor deposition (CVD) and vacuum filtration (VF)). Besides, the possibility of applying the dual-functional electrodes to other metal-sulfur cells is discussed. Finally, design principles and prospects in dual-functional electrodes for future research and commercial application are proposed as guidelines. (© 2023 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)