Revisiting the anchoring behavior in lithium-sulfur batteries: many-body effect on the suppression of shuttle effect

We apply the state-of-the-art many-body dispersion (MBD) method to study the anchoring behavior in lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries, which is closely related to the notorious “shuttle effect”. Based on the experimental results of metal sulfides (FeS and SnS 2 ), we find that the MBD method gives a more accurate prediction of anchoring mechanism compared with other van der Waals (vdW) inclusive methods. We systematically investigate the anchoring mechanism of two prototypal anchoring materials—Ti 2 CF 2 and doped-graphene systems. The many-body effect is found to play an important role on the reduction of anchoring behaviors, especially when the systems have large polarization and the vdW interactions predominate the anchoring behavior. Our work deepens the fundamental understanding of the anchoring mechanism, and provides a more accurate criterion for screening anchoring materials for suppressing the shuttle effect.