Issue 34, 2017

A sulfur–FePO4–C nanocomposite cathode for stable and anti-self-discharge lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries are regarded as promising candidates for energy storage devices owing to their high theoretical energy density. However, severe self-discharge due to the dissolution and shuttle effect of polysulfides hinders the practical application of Li–S batteries. In this work, we present a strategy to entrap sulfur in a mesoporous FePO4/carbon nanocomposite that relies on a chemical process, in which FePO4 bonds with sulfur to form S–O chemical bonds for high performance Li–S batteries. The prepared S/FePO4/C nanocomposite exhibits excellent cycling performance. It delivers an initial discharge capacity of 953.8 mA h g−1 and a discharge capacity of 550.8 mA h g−1 can be reserved after successive cycling for 500 cycles with a capacity decay rate of 0.05% per cycle at 0.5C. Also, the S/FePO4/C electrode exhibits extremely low self-discharge behavior. The cell voltage is stabilized at a high value of approximately 2.9 V after 7 days' rest with S/FePO4/C as the cathode. Even after 30 days' rest, the potential is still maintained at about 2.7 V, demonstrating an extremely low rate of self-discharge. In addition, both the areal capacity and the volumetric capacity of the S/FePO4/C electrode are superior to those of the S/carbon electrode, indicating its promising application in practical Li–S batteries.

Graphical abstract: A sulfur–FePO4–C nanocomposite cathode for stable and anti-self-discharge lithium–sulfur batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
05 Jun 2017
Accepted
28 Jul 2017
First published
28 Jul 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 17926-17932

A sulfur–FePO4–C nanocomposite cathode for stable and anti-self-discharge lithium–sulfur batteries

Y. Pang, Y. Wen, W. Li, Y. Sun, T. Zhu, Y. Wang and Y. Xia, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 17926 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA04852A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements