Monodispersed sulfur nanoparticles for lithium-sulfur batteries with theoretical performance.

While Li-S batteries are poised to be the next generation high-density energy storage devices, low sulfur utilization and slow rate performance have limited their practical applications. Here, we report the synthesis of monodispersed S8 nanoparticles (NPs) with different diameter and the nanosize dependent kinetic characteristics of the corresponding Li-S batteries. Most remarkably, 5 nm S NPs display the theoretical discharging/charging capacity of 1672 mAh g(-1) at 0.1 C rate and a discharge capacity of 1089 mAh g(-1) at 4 C.