Core-shell meso/microporous carbon host for sulfur loading toward applications in lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur(Li-S) batteries belong to one of the promising technologies for high-energy-density rechargeable batteries.However,sulfur cathodes suffer from inherent problems of its poor electronic conductivity and the shuttling of highly dissoluble lithium polysulfides generated during the cycles.Loading sulfur into porous carbons has been proved to be an effective approach to alleviate these issues.Mesoporous and microporous carbons have been widely used for sulfur accommodation,but mesoporous carbons have poor sulfur confinement,whereas microporous carbons are impeded by low sulfur loading rates.Here,a core-shell carbon,combining both the merits of mesoporous carbon with large pore volume and microporous carbon with effective sulfur confinement,was prepared by coating the mesoporous CMK-3 with a microporous carbon(MPC) shell and served as the carbon host(CMK-3 @MPC) to accommodate sulfur.After sulfur infusion,the as-obtained S/(CMK-3@MPC) cathode delivered a high initial capacity of up to 1422 mAh·g~(-1) and sustained 654 mAh·g~(-1) reversible specific capacity after 36 cycles at 0.1 C.The good performance is ascribed to the unique core-shell structure of the CMK-3@MPC matrix,in which sulfur can be effectively confined within the meso/microporous carbon host,thus achieving simultaneously high electrochemical utilization.     

石墨烯包覆碳纳米管-硫(CNT-S)复合材料及锂硫电池性能

针对锂硫电池研究与实际应用中遇到的主要问题,本文通过一种简单有效的水热法还原氧化石墨烯对商用碳纳米管-硫(CNT-S)纳米复合材料进行包覆,形成一种可有效抑制多硫聚合物扩散的石墨烯包覆结构。X射线衍射(XRD),扫描电子显微镜(SEM)表征结果表明硫均匀地负载在碳纳米管上,并且在CNT-S复合材料外表面包覆有一层石墨烯。电化学测试结果表明,这种包覆结构能显著提高CNT-S复合材料的锂硫电池性能。     

石墨烯包覆碳纳米管-硫(CNT-S)复合材料及锂硫电池性能

针对锂硫电池研究与实际应用中遇到的主要问题, 本文通过一种简单有效的水热法还原氧化石墨烯对商用碳纳米管-硫(CNT-S)纳米复合材料进行包覆, 形成一种可有效抑制多硫聚合物扩散的石墨烯包覆结构。X射线衍射(XRD), 扫描电子显微镜(SEM)表征结果表明硫均匀地负载在碳纳米管上, 并且在CNT-S复合材料外表面包覆有一层石墨烯。电化学测试结果表明, 这种包覆结构能显著提高CNT-S复合材料的锂硫电池性能。     

Facile synthesis and performance of polypyrrole-coated sulfur nanocomposite as cathode materials for lithium/sulfur batteries

In situ chemical oxidation polymerization of pyrrole on the surface of sulfur particles was carried out to synthesize a sulfur/polypyrrole （SIPPy） nanocomposite with core-shell structure. The composite was characterized by elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction, scanning/transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical measurements. XRD and FTIR results showed that sulfur well dispersed in the core-shell structure and PPy structure was successfully obtained via in situ oxidative polymerization of pyrrole on the surface of sulfur particles. TEM observation revealed that PPy was formed and fixed to the surface of sulfur nanoparticle after polymerization, developing a well-defined core-shell structure and the thickness of PPy coating layer was in the range of 20-30 nm. In the composite, PPy worked as a conducting matrix as well as a coating agent, which confined the active materials within the electrode. Consequently, the as prepared SIPPy composite cathode exhibited good cycling and rate performances for rechargeable lithium/sulfur batteries. The resulting cell containing SIPPy composite cathode yields a discharge capacity of 1039 mAh·g^-1 at the initial cycle and retains 59% of this value over 50 cycles at 0.1 C rate. At 1 C rate, the SIPPy composite showed good cycle stability, and the discharge capacity was 475 mAh·g^-1 after 50 cycles.     

Well-dispersed sulfur anchored on interconnected polypyrrole nanofiber network as high performance cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries

Preparation of novel sulfur/polypyrrole (S/PPy) composite consisting well-dispersed sulfur particles anchored on interconnected PPy nanowire network was demonstrated. In such hybrid structure, the as-prepared PPy clearly displays a three-dimensionally cross-linked and hierarchical porous structure, which was utilized in the composite cathode as a conductive network trapping soluble polysulfide intermediates and enhancing the overall electrochemical performance of the system. Benefiting from this unique structure, the S/PPy composite demonstrated excellent cycling stability, resulting in a discharge capacity of 931 mAh g⁻¹ at the second cycle and retained about 54% of this value over 100 cycles at 0.1 C. Furthermore, the S/PPy composite cathode exhibits a good rate capability with a discharge capacity of 584 mAh g⁻¹ at 1  C.     

Hierarchically porous nitrogen-doped carbon foams decorated with zinc nanodots as high-performance sulfur hosts for lithium-sulfur battery

To prevent polysulfides from dissolution into electrolyte, we propose a novel and simple approach to nitrogen-doped carbon foams which contain hierarchically porous structure and are decorated with zinc nanodots through one-pot carbonization and activation process. These carbon foams, which serve as hosts for sulfur in lithium battery, can provide a conducting network and shorter diffusion length for Li-ions. Specially, the zinc nanodots derived from the carbothermal reaction of ZnCl₂ at high temperature can interact with sulfur/polysulfides by strong chemisorption. In addition, the zinc nanodots can also facilitate the conversion reaction between Li₂S_x (2 < x < 8) and Li₂S/Li₂S₂. Therefore, Zn@NCFs/S cathode presents high sulfur utility and large capacity.     

Sulfur/carbon composites prepared with ordered porous carbon for Li-S battery cathode

Ordered porous cabon with a 2-D hexagonal structure,high specific surface area and large pore volume was synthesized through a twostep heating method using tri-block copolymer as template and phenolic resin as carbon precursor.The results indicated the electrochemical performance of the sulfur/carbon composites prepared with the ordered porous carbon was significantly affected by the pore structure of the carbon.Both the specific capacity and cycling stability of the sulfur/carbon composites were improved using the bimodal micro/meso-porous carbon frameworks with high surface area.Its initial discharge capacity can be as high as 1200 mAh·g~(-1) at a current density of 167.5 mA·g~(-1)The improved capacity retention was obtained during the cell cycling as well.     

锂离子电池用复合导电剂浆料制备与性能

采用超声波混合、抽滤的方法把多壁碳纳米管（MWCNTs）和乙炔黑混合制备了锂离子电池用复合导电剂浆料，用扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和恒流充放电测试考察了复合导电剂的结构和其作为导电剂对LiCoO2电极放电比容量的影响。SEM的分析结果表明MWCNTs和乙炔黑实现了纳米层次的均匀混合。复合导电剂悬浮液和浆料分别被用作导电剂制成了两种LiCoO2电极，前一种电极为Cathode A，后一种电极为Cathode B，考察了不同MWCNTs含量时，两种电极0．5C第10次放电比容量的差异。实验结果表明，随着MWCNTs含量的增加，两种电极放电比容量的差值增大，说明低含量MWCNTs的复合导电剂浆料是一种理想的锂离子电池导电剂。