Size Tunable Zeolite‐Templated Carbon as Microporous Sulfur Host for Lithium‐Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Spatial confinement of sulfur in porous carbons has been one of the major approaches to address the polysulfide (PS) shuttle problem of lithium‐sulfur (Li−S) batteries. Among them, microporous carbon can effectively confine sulfur inside pores, however, it shows low active material utilization due to pore blockage by discharge products. To address this issue, in this work, zeolite‐templated carbons (ZTCs) with high surface area and electronic conductivity are used as host material for Li−S battery and their particle size is varied to explore better performances. With decrease of the particle size from 400 to 20 nm, initial sulfur utilization is enhanced from 20.7 to 71.6 %. The smaller ZTC particle delivers a high capacity retention of 94.6 % at 200 cycles. From electrochemical and spectroscopic analyses, it is demonstrated that smaller ZTC particles lead to easier penetration of Li ions inside the pores, resulting in more uniform Li2S deposition on the entire surface of the micropores. Due to its excellent size‐tunability and well‐defined pore structure, ZTC can be an effective sulfur host for the design of high‐performance Li−S batteries.

Complete encapsulation of sulfur through interfacial energy control of sulfur solutions for high-performance Li−S batteries

“…In S/HPCS (CS 2 /IPA), in which the sulfur is loaded in the mesopore shell, there may be pore clogging during the discharging reaction. It has been observed that pore clogging in a zeolitetemplated microporous carbon host results in low performance at a high rate (52). S/HPCS (CS 2 /NMP) is capable of ion transfer to the interior via the mesopore shell, which may allow relatively high utilization of sulfur.…”

Metal–Organic Framework‐Based Sulfur‐Loaded Materials

“…The particle size of the MOFs also exerts a significant influence on the performance of the LSB. [141][142][143][144][145][146][147] A smaller particle size not only promotes electron transport but also provides a larger contact area with the electrolytes and conductive additives. [148][149][150][151] However, as the particle size decreases, leaching of the soluble polysulfides is accelerated, which further complicates the situation.…”

Revival of Zeolite‐Templated Nanocarbon Materials: Recent Advances in Energy Storage and Conversion

“…Zeolite-templated nanocarbon materials have also been applied as cathode of the lithium-sulfur battery. [276,277] Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have become one of the most promising alter-natives of LIBs for next-generation energy storage devices due to its overwhelming theoretical energy density (≈2600 Wh kg −1 ), low cost, and environmental friendliness. Currently, there are obvious shortcomings.…”

“…prepared a series of microporous carbons with various particle sizes from 20 to 400 nm, but identical micropore size of 1.4 nm, to investigate the particle size effect for cathodes of Li–S batteries. [ 277 ] The sample with smallest particle size exhibit optimal capacity of 1199 mAh g −1 and high cycling stability. For the case of microporous carbons with larger particle sizes, Li 2 S was generated at the entrance of the micropores, thereby limiting discharging capacity.…”