Sluggish sulfur redox kinetics remain a critical bottleneck in the advancement of high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). Single-atom catalysts (SACs) offer a promising solution to this limitation, particularly when their coordination structures are carefully engineered. Here, we develop a chromium-based SAC featuring a unique undercoordinated CrN3 configuration to boost sulfur electrochemistry. Compared with conventional CrN4, the CrN3 motif lowers 3d orbital occupancy and meanwhile activates the in-plane hybridizations with S 3p orbitals upon interaction with polysulfides, contributing to moderate adsorption strength and reduced energy barriers for bidirectional sulfur conversions. Additionally, the integration of the two-dimensional (2D) porous framework ensures abundant electrochemically active surfaces and efficiently exposed active sites. As a result, CrN3-based cells demonstrate fast and durable sulfur redox reactions, enabling an ultralow capacity decay of 0.0075% per cycle over 1000 cycles and a high-rate capability of 651.9 mAh·g−1 at 5 C. The CrN3 catalyst retains robust catalytic efficiency under demanding conditions, delivering a high areal capacity of 5.53 mAh·cm−2 at high sulfur loading and lean electrolyte. This work establishes a compelling paradigm of SAC coordination engineering for designing advanced sulfur electrocatalysts for next-generation LSBs.
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Nano Research 2026, 19(1): 94907915
Published: 31 December 2025
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