To retard the performance degradation of sulfur cathode in lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries originating from severe volume variation and intermediate polysulfides shuttle effect during charge and discharge process, commercial polyacrylic acid (PAA) crosslinked by cationic hydroxypropyl polyrotaxane (HPRN⁺) is used as a water-based multifunctional binder (PAA-HPRN⁺) of the cathode for the first time. The assembled Li–S battery with the simple sulfur/carbon composite cathode adhered by PAA-HPRN⁺ displays an outstanding cycling specific capacity retention of 59.9% after 900 cycles at 1.0 C, and the corresponding capacity fading rate per cycle is 0.0446%, which are better than many reported values. Moreover, the cathode also exhibits excellent specific capacity and cycling stability even under high sulfur loading. The superior electrochemical properties are attributed to the slipping of the polyrotaxane that provides the binder with improved mechanical robustness and trapping capability of the soluble polysulfides that suppresses shuttle effect. The proposed design of the multifunctional binder may help to realize practical application of the Li–S battery.

为了阻止锂硫电池在容量充放电过程中由于剧烈的体积变化和中间的多硫化物穿梭效应而导致的硫阴极性能下降，通过阳离子羟丙基聚轮烷（HPRN ⁺）交联的商用聚丙烯酸（PAA ）为首次用作阴极的水基多功能粘合剂（PAA-HPRN ⁺）。组装好的Li–S电池，具有通过PAA-HPRN ⁺粘合的简单硫/碳复合阴极在1.0 C下900次循环后，显示出出色的循环比容量保持率59.9％，每个循环对应的容量衰减率为0.0446％，比许多报道的值都好。此外，即使在高硫负载下，阴极也表现出优异的比容量和循环稳定性。优异的电化学性能归因于聚轮烷的打滑，聚轮烷为粘合剂提供了改善的机械强度和可溶多硫化物的捕获能力，从而抑制了穿梭效应。多功能粘结剂的建议设计可能有助于实现Li–S电池的实际应用。