Electrochemical performance of sulfur composite cathode materials for rechargeable lithium batteries

The structure and characteristic of carbon materials have a direct influence on the electrochemical performance of sulfur–carbon composite electrode materials for lithium–sulfur battery. In this paper, sulfur composite has been synthesized by heating a mixture of elemental sulfur and activated carbon, which is characterized as high specific surface area and microporous structure. The composite, contained 70% sulfur, as cathode in a lithium cell based on organic liquid electrolyte was tested at room temperature. It showed two reduction peaks at 2.05 V and 2.35 V, one oxidation peak at 2.4 V during cyclic voltammogram test. The initial discharge specific capacity was 1180.8 mAh g⁻¹ and the utilization of electrochemically active sulfur was about 70.6% assuming a complete reaction to the product of Li₂S. The specific capacity still kept as high as 720.4 mAh g⁻¹ after 60 cycles retaining 61% of the initial discharge capacity.