Renewable biomass-derived carbon-based hosts for lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) have moved to the forefront of new-generation energy storage systems thanks to their environmental friendliness, inexpensiveness and high energy density (1675 mA h g⁻¹). However, their practical application faces challenges arising from the serious shuttle effect of polysulfides, the low utilization efficiency of sulfur, and weak cycling performance. Biomass-derived carbon (BDC), as one of the representative gifts from nature, has great capability for achieving multiple applications in lithium–sulfur systems since it has wide availability, microstructural diversity, good electrical conductivity and tunability of physicochemical properties. In this review, we give a systematic summary of the state-of-the-art research developments on BDC as sulfur hosts in LSBs from the aspects of natural porous structures, heteroatom doping and catalytic material modification. The problems and challenges of sulfur host materials and the advantages in utilizing BDC to address the issues as well as improve the LSB performance are pointed out. Moreover, the application of biomass in interlayers and binders is also briefly introduced. Lastly, current challenges and future directions for LSBs are indicated, respectively, aiming to elucidate the promise of BDC-based hosts and to provide potential avenues for their rational design and utilization, so as to boost the commercial process of LSB development.