Hierarchical porous biomass-derived electrodes with high areal loading for lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

The natural abundance and environmental benignity of sulfur further endow Li–S batteries with low-cost and green features. The porous structure materials derived from biomass used as sulfur carriers also possess these advantages, making them highly appealing for future high-energy applications. Herein, we utilized chestnut shell carbon (CSC), an inexpensive and readily available agricultural waste, to create a honeycomb-like hierarchical porous carbon for hosting sulfur and a polyacrylonitrile-based graphite fiber (PAN-GF) current collector (CC) to produce an electrode with high areal sulfur loading (10.1 mg cm⁻²). The CSC@S with aluminum foil CC also exhibited an initial discharge capacity of 1537.7 mAh g⁻¹, with a capacity retention of 70.0% after 100 cycles. The PAN-GF based cathode also could achieve a capacity of over 8.22 mAh cm⁻² and a volumetric energy density of 366.8 Wh L⁻¹. Beyond conventional aluminum foil coating strategies, this hierarchical porous carbon-embedded fiber structure offers a feasible and cost-effective approach for advancing the development of high-areal sulfur loading electrodes in lithium–sulfur batteries.