LAUSR

Lithium-selenium (Li-Se) batteries have recently attracted more and more attentions as a new secondary battery system due to the similarity but better performances than lithium-sulfur batteries. However, the dissolution of selenium in electrolytes results in low selenium utilization, concentration polarization, inferior capacity and unstable cycling performance. Herein, 46.58 wt% of selenium is loaded on carbon cloths through the calcination process and directly used as the self-supporting cathodes. Carbonized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofiber membranes produced by electrospinning are worn as the protective clothing between the cathode and separator to avoid the loss and dissolution of selenium. The stabilization of Li-Se batteries was enhanced by introducing two interlayers, as expected, it exhibits a stable reversible average capacity of 590 mA h g-1 during 1000 cycles at a current density of 0.5 C (1 C = 675 mA g-1). No poly-selenides formation is found during charging/discharging, and the effects of the introduced PAN interlayers on improving the stability and reducing the polarization of the assembled Li-Se batteries are confirmed by the mechanism characterizations. This regulated Li-Se battery presents a great application potential in the future, and the design idea can also be promoted to explore other energy storage systems.