Progress and Prospects on Multifunctional Coating Separators for Lithium-Sulfur Battery

The development of advanced energy storage systems is crucial to meet the growing demand for electric vehicles, portable devices and renewable energy storage. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, with their advantages of high specific energy, low cost of raw materials and environmental friendliness, are hotspots in the research field of new high performance batteries. However, there are still many problems which hinder the practical applications of lithium-sulfur batteries, such as the shuttle effect of soluble polysulfide intermediates, the growth of lithium dendrites, and the thermal stability and safety of lithium-sulfur batteries during use. The design of multifunctional coating separator is one of the effective strategies to improve the above deficiencies of lithium-sulfur batteries. In this review, the research progress of multifunctional coating separators for lithium-sulfur batteries is discussed in detail, which include polymer materials, carbon materials, oxide materials, functionalized coating separators modified by catalytic nanoparticles and special functional separators to enhance the thermal stability and safety of the battery. The characteristics of its function are systematically analyzed, and the future research and development are also prospected.