Conductive Carbon Network inside a Sulfur-Impregnated Carbon Sponge: A Bioinspired High-Performance Cathode for Li–S Battery

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• 作者：Xue-Li Du ; Ya You ; Yang Yan ; Dawei Zhang ; Huai-Ping Cong ; Haili Qin ; Chaofeng Zhang ; Fei-Fei Cao ; Ke-Cheng Jiang ; Yan Wang ; Sen Xin ; Jian-Bo He
• 刊名：ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：August 31, 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：8
• 期：34
• 页码：22261-22269
• 全文大小：642K
• 年卷期：0
• ISSN：1944-8252

文摘

A highly conductive sulfur cathode is crucial for improving the kinetic performance of a Li–S battery. The encapsulation of sulfur in porous nanocarbons is expected to benefit the Li⁺ migration, yet the e^– conduction is still to be improved due to a low graphitization degree of a conventional carbon substrate, especially that pyrolyzed from carbohydrates or polymers. Aiming at facilitating the e^– conduction in the cathode, here we propose to use ketjen black, a highly graphitized nanocarbon building block to form a conductive network for electrons in a biomass-derived, hierarchically porous carbon sponge by a easily scaled-up approach at a low cost. The specifically designed carbon host ensures a high loading and good retention of active sulfur, while also provides a faster electron transmission to benefit the lithiation/delithiation kinetics of sulfur. The sulfur cathode prepared from the carbon network shows excellent cycling and rate performance in a Li–S battery, rendering its practicality for emerging energy storage opportunities such as grids or automobiles.