Hierarchical carbon microstructures prepared from oil-palm-shell tracheids for Li–S batteries

Abstract

Hierarchical porous hollow carbon microstructures (HPHCMs) have been successfully prepared from the cheap and abundant natural resource of oil palm shells, which are a well-known host material for the sulfur electrode in Li–S batteries. In this preparation, the hollow tracheids are chemically isolated from oil palm shells, further heat-treated at 400 °C for carbonization and then calcined at 800 °C with KOH/K₂CO₃ for activation. In Li–S batteries, the as-prepared HPHCMs are loaded with 60 wt% sulfur to form the cathode material, which delivers an initial specific capacity of 1105 mA h g⁻¹ and a high capacity retention of 74%, even after 100 cycles. Thus, this investigation provides a facile method for preparing hierarchical porous hollow carbon microstructures from plant tracheids, which can be applied excellently as electrode materials.