An Effective Porous Activated Carbon Derived from Puffed Corn Employed as the Separator Coating in a Lithium–Sulfur Battery

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries are recognized as novel energy storage systems because of their high theoretical specific capacity and energy density. Nevertheless, they also have technical bottlenecks such as the “shuttle effect”, poor conductivity of sulfur, and volume change. Herein, an effective porous activated carbon derived from puffed corn is coated on a polypropylene (PP) separator to improve the properties of lithium–sulfur batteries. Puffed corn carbon (PCC) and activated puffed corn carbon (APCC) are prepared by carbonization without and with KOH activation. Combined utilization of Fourier transform‐infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD), Raman, N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) technologies demonstrates that the APCC sample has an amorphous carbon structure and it has high specific surface area of 2543.8 m2 g−1 and a large pore volume of 2.14 cm3 g−1. The cell with an APCC‐coated separator exhibit an initial discharge capacity of 1045 mAh g−1 at 1 C, and convert to 471.6 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles. Overall, APCC provides an extensive prospect for high‐performance lithium–sulfur batteries.

A thermo‐stable poly(propylene carbonate)‐based composite separator for lithium‐sulfur batteries under elevated temperatures

“…In contrast, the Li‐S battery with the separator opposite to S/PAN cathode only shows a lower specific capacity of 1341.9 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 with a capacity retention of 82.2% after 200 cycles. These results confirm that the nano‐SiO 2 @PPC coating facing to the S/PAN cathode is effective to buffer the volume change of sulfur and maintain the structural integrity of the cathode 41 …”

“…These results confirm that the nano-SiO 2 @PPC coating facing to the S/PAN cathode is effective to buffer the volume change of sulfur and maintain the structural integrity of the cathode. 41 Figure 5A,B display the cycling performances of Li-S batteries with both the M-Celgard-p and Celgard-p at various current densities at room temperature. The battery using M-Celgard-p separator shows a greatly improved specific capacity and cycling performance.…”

Biomass-Derived Porous Carbon from Agar as an Anode Material for Lithium-Ion Batteries

“…Two mechanisms of Li-ion storage in carbonaceous materials derived from biomass can be defined as the invertible lithiation/delithiation into/out of the expanded graphitic layers and the surface-induced capacitive behavior summoned by pores, regions of structural defects, and functional groups [ 19 ]. Pursuant to earlier research, biomass activated carbon nanostructures can be produced and generated from a variety of natural resources such as rice husk [ 20 ], wheat stalk [ 21 ], cellulose [ 22 ], green tea wastes [ 23 ], natural cotton [ 24 ], puffed corn [ 25 ], sucrose [ 26 ].…”

Construction of KB@ZIF-8/PP Composite Separator for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries with Enhanced Electrochemical Performance

“…The capacity retention rate of the battery with KB@ZIF-8/PP was 59.27%, which is higher than that of KB/PP (44.56%) and PP (36.28%). To compare, results in previously reported works were 56.78% at 0.5 C (500 cycles) [ 41 ], 40% at 1 C (1000 cycles) [ 42 ], 45.11% at 1 C (500 cycles) [ 43 ], 48.30% at 0.5 C (500 cycles) [ 44 ] and 57.32% at 0.5 C (300 cycles) [ 27 ]. The above results can be ascribed to the physical adsorption of KB and chemisorption of ZIF-8 to polysulfide.…”