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Gas Pickering Emulsion Templated Hollow Carbon for High Rate Performance Lithium Sulfur Batteries
Author(s) -
Li Matthew,
Zhang Yining,
Wang Xiaolei,
Ahn Wook,
Jiang Gaopeng,
Feng Kun,
Lui Gregory,
Chen Zhongwei
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.201603241
Subject(s) - materials science , pickering emulsion , chemical engineering , polysulfide , emulsion , nanoparticle , carbon fibers , sulfur , porosity , nanotechnology , composite number , electrode , composite material , chemistry , electrolyte , engineering , metallurgy
A CO 2 in water nanoparticle stabilized Pickering emulsion is used to template micrometer sized hollow porous nitrogen doped carbon particles for high rate performance lithium sulfur battery. For the first time, nanoparticles serve the dual role of an emulsion stabilizer and a pore template for the shell, directly utilizing in situ generated CO 2 bubbles as template for the core. The minimalistic nature of this method does not require expensive surfactants or additional core templates. Upon polymerization of melamine formaldehyde onto CO 2 , a robust polymer/silica composite shell is formed and transformed into a porous shell upon washing. The micrometer‐sized hollow morphology in combination with its nitrogen rich porous shell demonstrates impressive rate capabilities of 670 and 500 mAh g −1 even at a high rate of 7C and 9C, respectively. This material also possesses excellent cycle durability, exhibiting a low capacity decay of 0.088%/cycle over 300 cycles. Measurement of the shuttle current and impedance provides interesting insight into the polysulfide mass transfer mechanism of hollow structured sulfur hosts.