Polyaniline-Coated Activated Carbon Aerogel/Sulfur Composite for High-performance Lithium-Sulfur Battery

Abstract

An activated carbon aerogel (ACA-500) with high surface area (1765 m2 g−1), pore volume (2.04 cm3 g−1), and hierarchical porous nanonetwork structure is prepared through direct activation of organic aerogel (RC-500) with a low potassium hydroxide ratio (1:1). Based on this substrate, a polyaniline (PANi)-coated activated carbon aerogel/sulfur (ACA-500-S@PANi) composite is prepared via a simple two-step procedure, including melt-infiltration of sublimed sulfur into ACA-500, followed by an in situ polymerization of aniline on the surface of ACA-500-S composite. The obtained ACA-500-S@PANi composite delivers a high reversible capacity up to 1208 mAh g−1 at 0.2C and maintains 542 mAh g−1 even at a high rate (3C). Furthermore, this composite exhibits a discharge capacity of 926 mAh g−1 at the initial cycle and 615 mAh g−1 after 700 cycles at 1C rate, revealing an extremely low capacity decay rate (0.48‰ per cycle). The excellent electrochemical performance of ACA-500-S@PANi can be attributed to the synergistic effect of hierarchical porous nanonetwork structure and PANi coating. Activated carbon aerogels with high surface area and unique three-dimensional (3D) interconnected hierarchical porous structure offer an efficient conductive network for sulfur, and a highly conductive PANi-coating layer further enhances conductivity of the electrode and prevents the dissolution of polysulfide species.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s11671-017-2372-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Research Progress on Applications of Polyaniline (PANI) for Electrochemical Energy Storage and Conversion

“…The unique sandwich architecture effectively avoided dissolution and diffusion of polysulfides, and the MWCNTs provided conductive network, flexible PANI accommodated volume change while cycling, resulting in enhanced cycling behavior and rate capability [143]. Porous carbon materials like activated carbon and mesoporous carbon can provide an efficient conductive network for S, while PANI coating further reduces the volumetric effect of S and facilitates electronic conduction, as well as prevents lithium polysulfides from dissolving in an electrolyte, thus the composite electrodes exhibited enhanced electrochemical characteristics [144,145]. In addition, acetylene black is also a promising carbon material to form PANI@S-acetylene black composite as cathode for LSBs [146].…”

Great Enhancement of Carbon Energy Storage through Narrow Pores and Hydrogen-Containing Functional Groups for Aqueous Zn-Ion Hybrid Supercapacitor

“…Figure 3a shows the FTIR spectrum for the six samples. –OH and –NH stretching occurred at 3200–3600 cm −1 [31]. A strong band at 1030 cm −1 has been connected with the C–N stretching [32].…”

A review on electronically conducting polymers for lithium-sulfur battery and lithium-selenium battery: Progress and prospects

“…Besides, the PANI also was selected to coat on other different types of carbon/S composite. Tang et al [74] coated the PANI on the surface of activated carbon aerogel/sulfur (ACA-500-S), obtaining the ACA-500-S@PANi composite for Li-S cell (Fig. 8b).…”