Issue 26, 2014

Sulfur encapsulated in porous hollow CNTs@CNFs for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Significant challenges for the commercialization of a lithium–sulfur battery include its rapid capacity fading and low power capability. Encapsulating the sulfur in pores of small volume of a porous carbon material alleviates this problem. We report a carbon–sulfur nanoarchitecture that encapsulates sulfur in porous hollow carbon-nanotubes@carbon-nanofibers (CNTs@CNFs) with a high Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area of 1400 m2 g−1 and a total pore volume of 1.12 cm3 g−1. As a cathode, this material with 55 wt.% sulfur shows a high capacity of ∼1313 mA h g−1 at 0.2 C, 1078 mA h g−1 at 0.5 C, 878 mA h g−1 at 1 C, 803 mA h g−1 at 1.5 C, 739 mA h g−1 at 2 C, and 572 mA h g−1 at 5 C, and maintains ∼700 mA h g−1 at 1 C after 100 cycles and 430 mA h g−1 at 5 C after 200 cycles, which makes it a superior cathode material for a rechargeable Li–S battery.

Graphical abstract: Sulfur encapsulated in porous hollow CNTs@CNFs for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 apr 2014
Accepted
06 may 2014
First published
12 may 2014

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014,2, 10126-10130

Sulfur encapsulated in porous hollow CNTs@CNFs for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Y. Chen, X. Li, K. Park, J. Hong, J. Song, L. Zhou, Y. Mai, H. Huang and J. B. Goodenough, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2, 10126 DOI: 10.1039/C4TA01823K

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