A chemo-mechanical regulated flexible-rigid binder enables high-rate Na-S batteries.
5 affiliations
- 1Center of Advanced Electrochemical Energy (CAEE), Institute of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, State Key Laboratory of Advanced Chemical Power Sources, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chongqing University Chongqing 400044 China [email protected].
- 2State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, College of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology Beijing 100029 China [email protected].
- 3College of Materials Science and Engineering, National Engineering Research for Magnesium Alloys, Chongqing University Chongqing 40044 China.
- 4Chongqing Institute of New Energy Storage Materials and Equipment Chongqing 401135 China [email protected].
- 5Centre for Clean Environment and Energy, Griffith University, Gold Coast Campus Gold Coast QLD 4222 Australia [email protected].
Abstract
Room temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries are promising candidates for low-cost, high-energy-density energy storage. However, severe cathode volume expansion and polysulfide shuttling induce electrode pulverization, active-material loss, and large electrochemical polarization, resulting in poor rate capability and limited cycling stability. Herein, we report a dynamic flexible-rigid composite binder (PTOG-PAA) that simultaneously regulates the mechanical stability and interfacial sulfur chemistry of RT Na-S cathodes. The binder integrates a flexible poly(thiourea-oxidized glutathione) (PTOG) network with rigid poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) through cooperative hydrogen bonding and covalent crosslinking, enabling efficient stress relaxation while preserving structural robustness. The resulting three-dimensional network exhibits strong adhesion to sulfur electrodes, delivering an average peel strength of 0.743 N, over 15 times higher than that of commercial PVDF. More importantly, the PTOG-PAA binder suppresses electrochemical polarization by facilitating sulfur redox kinetics and maintaining sulfur confinement during repeated volume fluctuations. Consequently, RT Na-S batteries employing the PTOG-PAA binder deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 1525.00 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ and retain 205 mAh g⁻¹ after 13 300 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹ with an ultralow capacity decay of only 0.037‰ per cycle. This work establishes cooperative chemo-mechanical regulation through a dynamic flexible-rigid binder network as an effective design strategy for high-energy Na-S batteries.
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BibTeX
@article{zhang2026chemomechanical,
title = {{A chemo-mechanical regulated flexible-rigid binder enables high-rate Na-S batteries.}},
author = {Jiahao Zhang and Yanjun Zheng and Ke Zhang and Xin Li and Dong Liu and Xiang Li and Liuyue Cao and Lei Zhang and Binwei Zhang and Zidong Wei and Shi-Gang Sun},
journal = {Chemical science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1039/d6sc05511g},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909356},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - A chemo-mechanical regulated flexible-rigid binder enables high-rate Na-S batteries.
AU - Jiahao Zhang
AU - Yanjun Zheng
AU - Ke Zhang
AU - Xin Li
AU - Dong Liu
AU - Xiang Li
AU - Liuyue Cao
AU - Lei Zhang
AU - Binwei Zhang
AU - Zidong Wei
AU - Shi-Gang Sun
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
JO - Chemical science
DO - 10.1039/d6sc05511g
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42909356
AB - Room temperature sodium-sulfur (RT Na-S) batteries are promising candidates for low-cost, high-energy-density energy storage. However, severe cathode volume expansion and polysulfide shuttling induce electrode pulverization, active-material loss, and large electrochemical polarization, resulting in poor rate capability and limited cycling stability. Herein, we report a dynamic flexible-rigid composite binder (PTOG-PAA) that simultaneously regulates the mechanical stability and interfacial sulfur chemistry of RT Na-S cathodes. The binder integrates a flexible poly(thiourea-oxidized glutathione) (PTOG) network with rigid poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) through cooperative hydrogen bonding and covalent crosslinking, enabling efficient stress relaxation while preserving structural robustness. The resulting three-dimensional network exhibits strong adhesion to sulfur electrodes, delivering an average peel strength of 0.743 N, over 15 times higher than that of commercial PVDF. More importantly, the PTOG-PAA binder suppresses electrochemical polarization by facilitating sulfur redox kinetics and maintaining sulfur confinement during repeated volume fluctuations. Consequently, RT Na-S batteries employing the PTOG-PAA binder deliver a high initial discharge capacity of 1525.00 mAh g⁻¹ at 0.1 A g⁻¹ and retain 205 mAh g⁻¹ after 13 300 cycles at 5 A g⁻¹ with an ultralow capacity decay of only 0.037‰ per cycle. This work establishes cooperative chemo-mechanical regulation through a dynamic flexible-rigid binder network as an effective design strategy for high-energy Na-S batteries.
SN - 2041-6520
SN - 2041-6539
ER -