Highly mesoporous carbon foams synthesized by a facile, cost-effective and template-free Pechini method for advanced lithium–sulfur batteries
Abstract
Highly mesoporous carbon foam (MCF) with a high specific surface area has been successfully synthesized via a facile, cost-effective and template-free Pechini method. The as-prepared MCF exhibits a high specific surface area of 1478.55 m2 g−1 and a commendable pore size distribution for impregnating sulfur. After sulfur loaded in MCF, the relationship between pore size distribution of mesoporous carbon foam/sulfur nanocomposite (MCF/S) and the content of loaded sulfur is investigated in detail, which impacts on subtle variation of lithium storage performance. MCF/S (57.22 wt%) delivers an initial discharge of 1285 mA h g−1 and retains 878 mA h g−1 after 50 cycles. Compared with pristine sulfur, MCF/S cathodes display enhanced electrochemical performances, which can be attributed to the cross-linked hierarchical structure of MCF conductive