Premium
High Sulfur Loading in Hierarchical Porous Carbon Rods Constructed by Vertically Oriented Porous Graphene‐Like Nanosheets for Li‐S Batteries
Author(s) -
Zheng Zongmin,
Guo Hongchen,
Pei Fei,
Zhang Xin,
Chen Xinyi,
Fang Xiaoliang,
Wang Taihong,
Zheng Nanfeng
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201601897
Subject(s) - materials science , sulfur , composite number , porosity , graphene , cathode , carbon fibers , chemical engineering , coating , composite material , nanotechnology , chemistry , engineering , metallurgy
The utilization of porous carbon frameworks as hosts for sulfur loading is an important theme in current Li‐S battery research. Unfortunately, the high loading of insulating sulfur often leads to low specific capacities, poor rate properties, and rapid capacity loss. To address this challenge, a facile templating route to fabricate a novel host material, hierarchical porous carbon rods constructed by vertically oriented porous graphene‐like nanosheets (HPCR) is presented. With a high specific surface area, ultralarge pore volume, hierarchical porous structures, and ideal ion transfer pathways, HPCR is a promising candidate for high sulfur loading. When used as the active material for a sulfur cathode, the HPCR‐S composite with 78.9 wt% sulfur exhibits excellent rate performance (646 mAh g −1 sulfur at 5 C) and cycling stability (700 mAh g −1 sulfur after 300 cycles at 1 C). Even with a sulfur content of 88.8 wt%, the HPCR‐S composite, without any additional protective polymer coating, still delivers a good rate performance (545 mAh g −1 sulfur at 3 C) and cycling stability (632 mAh g −1 sulfur after 200 cycles at 1 C). More importantly, the high sulfur loading (88.8 wt%) ensures that the HPCR‐S composite has a high energy density (880 mAh cm −3 cathode after 200 cycles at 1 C).