Carbon Nanofibers Grown on Carbon Felt as a Reinforced Current Collector for High‐Performance Lithium−Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Lithium−sulfur (Li−S) batteries have attracted much attention, owing to their high theoretical energy density. Many studies have focused on improving areal sulfur loading by using carbonaceous current collectors. However, low sulfur utilization and polysulfide diffusion could be more severe. Herein, we introduce a reinforced current collector consisting of carbon felt (CF) decorated with carbon nanofibers (CNFs), prepared by using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The CF@CNFs skeleton shows a large specific surface area for well‐dispersed active materials, highly conductive network with faster electronic/ionic transport, and a micro‐/mesoporous structure for spatial confinement on polysulfides. As a result, the cells with CF@CNFs current collectors exhibit a high specific capacity, superior cycling stability, and a good rate capacity. This work will provide a promising choice for designing novel current collectors toward high‐performance, high sulfur‐loading Li−S batteries.

Flexible and Binder‐Free Iron Phosphide Electrodes Using a Three‐Dimensional Support for High Hydrogen Productivity

“…It should be mentioned that after the acid etching treatment, which is performed before the electrochemical tests to remove some impurities derived from the synthesis, the XRD pattern also shows the peaks ascribed to FeP, as expected. The plane (100) of graphitic carbon is also present in the XRD patterns, in agreement with the spectra of the bare carbon felt (Figure S1) [26] . The morphology of the FeP/CF electrode was analyzed by HRSEM.…”

“…Carbon felt (CF) is composed of carbon fibers with a micrometric diameter that may be favorable for the mass transport of the produced gases and homogenous composition inside the pores, especially when the hydrogen production rates are high. CF is reported as robust support for large‐scale production because of its adequate electrical conductivity, macroporous structure, chemical stability, and high surface area [26] . In fact, because of these favorable properties, it is extensively employed in redox flow battery devices [27] .…”

“…CF is reported as robust support for large-scale production because of its adequate electrical conductivity, macroporous structure, chemical stability, and high surface area. [26] In fact, because of these favorable properties, it is extensively employed in redox flow battery devices. [27] Impor-tantly, carbon felt can be pressed against the membrane for zero-gap configuration in a PEM flow cell, which is facilitated by the soft and compressible nature of this substrate.…”

Multifunctional Three-Dimensional Bicontinuous Heterofibrous Scaffold for Kinetically Accelerated Polysulfide Trapping and Conversion in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…Information on the degree of graphitization of the samples was characterized using Raman spectroscopy. As shown in Figure b, the CNFs film shows two broad bands at 1356.28 and 1575.35 cm –1 , representing the D-band and G-band, which indicates defective/disordered and graphitized carbon, respectively. , The samples after the CVD process, on the other hand, show two relatively sharp bands at 1344.31 and 1572.70 cm –1 , and the peak area fraction ratio of the D and G bands ( I D / I G ) decreased from 2.73 to 1.69, which, combined with the characterization results of HRTEM (Figure h), indicate the generation of CNTs with higher graphitization. The surface area of CNTs-CNFs composites was measured by N 2 gas adsorption/desorption test analysis and compared with CNFs as shown in Figure c.…”

In Situ Nitrogen‐Doping Carbon Aerogel as an Effective Sulfur Host to Immobilize Polysulfides for High Performance Lithium‐Sulfur Battery

“…[17] In order to address these problems, more and more strategies are proposed to restrict highly soluble LiPS species and confine their diffusion. In those attempts, the popular strategies focus on combining sulfur with highly conductive carbon materials, such as porous carbon material, [18] carbon nanotubes/fibers [19,20] and graphene. [21] These carbon materials offer effective approaches as sulfur host in improving the electrochemical properties.…”