Nanoporosity of Carbon–Sulfur Nanocomposites toward the Lithium–Sulfur Battery Electrochemistry

Abstract

An ideal high-loading carbon–sulfur nanocomposite would enable high-energy-density lithium–sulfur batteries to show high electrochemical utilization, stability, and rate capability. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the effects of the nanoporosity of various porous conductive carbon substrates (e.g., nonporous, microporous, micro/mesoporous, and macroporous carbons) on the electrochemical characteristics and cell performances of the resulting high-loading carbon–sulfur composite cathodes. The comparison analysis of this work demonstrates the importance of having high microporosity in the sulfur cathode substrate. The high-loading microporous carbon–sulfur cathode attains a high sulfur loading of 4 mg cm−2 and sulfur content of 80 wt% at a low electrolyte-to-sulfur ratio of 10 µL mg−1. The lithium–sulfur cell with the microporous carbon–sulfur cathode demonstrates excellent electrochemical performances, attaining a high discharge capacity approaching 1100 mA∙h g−1, a high-capacity retention of 75% after 100 cycles, and superior high-rate capability of C/20–C/3 with excellent reversibility.

High Entropy Oxide (CrMnFeNiMg)3O4 with Large Compositional Space Shows Long‐Term Stability as Cathode in Lithium‐Sulfur Batteries

“…Considering the novel material design and the derived unique properties of the spinel (CrMnFeNiMg) 3 O 4 HEO, we have examined its application in sulfur cathode as an additive for the improvement of the cell performance through the design and optimization of the sulfur cathode [6–10,16,47,48] . In general, electrochemical LSB cathode suffers rapid loss of active material when liquid‐state LiPSs form from solid‐state sulfur and sulfide during the discharge and charge stages, respectively.…”

Structural and Surfacial Modification of Carbon Nanofoam as an Interlayer for Electrochemically Stable Lithium-Sulfur Cells

“…Thus, the comparison demonstrates the cell configuration of adopting the carbonnanofoam interlayer and the related progresses in references as possible cell development in future lithium-sulfur research (Table 3) [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

Rational Design of High‐Performance Nickel‐Sulfur Nanocomposites by the Electroless Plating Method for Electrochemical Lithium‐Sulfur Battery Cathodes

“…[14][15][16][17][18] Among the reported sulfur-based composites, carbon-sulfur nanocomposites dominate because of the high conductivity of carbon and the strong polysulfide adsorption of the porous carbon matrix, which improve the charge-transfer capability of the nanocomposite and the adsorption of dissolved polysulfides, respectively. [3,[19][20][21][22][23] With the fast development of carbon-sulfur nanocomposites, engineering designs that incorporate polar materials and hierarchical morphologies have been applied to carbon substrates to improve their polysulfide-trapping capability. [19][20][21][22][23] Aside from carbon-sulfur nanocomposites, various polymer networks have also been used in synthesizing polymer-sulfur nanocomposites with functional groups that strongly interact with the polysulfide species and thus restrain the dissolution and diffusion of the polysulfides.…”

“…[3,[19][20][21][22][23] With the fast development of carbon-sulfur nanocomposites, engineering designs that incorporate polar materials and hierarchical morphologies have been applied to carbon substrates to improve their polysulfide-trapping capability. [19][20][21][22][23] Aside from carbon-sulfur nanocomposites, various polymer networks have also been used in synthesizing polymer-sulfur nanocomposites with functional groups that strongly interact with the polysulfide species and thus restrain the dissolution and diffusion of the polysulfides. Moreover, the various synthesis methods of polymers enable unique morphologies with enhanced ionic and electronic conductivities for the composites.…”

“…To address the scientific and engineering issues mentioned above, great effort has been devoted to designing and synthesizing various sulfur‐based composites, with the goal of using them as cathodes in lithium‐sulfur batteries that offer sufficient sulfur loading and high sulfur utilization for technological applications and fulfill the energy density target of 500 Wh kg −1 [14–18] . Among the reported sulfur‐based composites, carbon‐sulfur nanocomposites dominate because of the high conductivity of carbon and the strong polysulfide adsorption of the porous carbon matrix, which improve the charge‐transfer capability of the nanocomposite and the adsorption of dissolved polysulfides, respectively [3,19–23] . With the fast development of carbon‐sulfur nanocomposites, engineering designs that incorporate polar materials and hierarchical morphologies have been applied to carbon substrates to improve their polysulfide‐trapping capability [19–23] .…”