Defect-rich Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x heterostructure for high sulfur utilization and uniform Li+ transport toward stable Li-S full batteries
image: By synergistically employing heterostructure construction and defect engineering, a defect-rich Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x heterostructure was successfully prepared to enhance electronic conductivity and active sites for rapid and durable Li-S chemistry. The strong chemical adsorption of lithium polysulfides, fast redox kinetics and uniform Li+ transport were simultaneously confirmed by the theoretical calculations and experimental results.
Credit: Nano Research, Tsinghua University Press
Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are highly promising energy storage devices owing to their high energy density and low cost. The widespread applications of such batteries have been hampered by the lithium polysulfide shuttling and sluggish reaction kinetics at the cathode, as well as uncontrollable dendrite growth at the anode. Rational design of sulfiphilic/lithiophilic host materials, electrolyte additives, SEI membrane and separator modification play critical roles in the development of high-performance Li-S full batteries.
A team of material scientists led by Cheng Wang from Tianjin University of Technology in Tianjin, China recently designed and prepared a defect-rich Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x heterostructure as a bi-functional regulator for both the sulfur cathode and lithium anode for Li-S batteries. “The synchronous construction of heterointerfaces and oxygen vacancies in Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x facilitates its strong interfacial charge transfer kinetics and achieves sufficient anchor sites. The electrochemical performances of half-cells and full-cells based on the S-Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x cathode and the Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x modified separator under a synergistic effect with heterointerface and defect engineering are comprehensively assessed, particularly focusing on polysulfide immobilization, sulfur redox reaction kinetics, suppression of lithium dendrite, output capacity, rate capability, and cycling stability,” said Cheng Wang, senior author of the paper.
This work offers defect-rich Zn2SnO4-x/SnO2-x heterostructure for Li-S batteries that concurrently fulfills strong polysulfides adsorption, efficient sulfur conversion reactions, fast ion diffusion and low Li migration energy barrier. The research team expects to provide a perspective route in commercial application of high-rate and stable Li-S batteries as well as enlightening the material designs in related energy storage and conversion fields.
Other contributors include Junting Li, Xinying Peng, Zhitong Liu and Yuan Tian from the Institute for New Energy Materials and Low-Carbon Technologies, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Porous Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering at Tianjin University of Technology in Tianjin, China.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22309133, 22271219).
DOI Link:
https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2026.94908323
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Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.