Biomass Derived Nitrogen-Doped Highly Porous Carbon Material with a Hierarchical Porous Structure for High-Performance Lithium/Sulfur Batteries

Yan Zhao; Xiaomin Zhang; Yusen He; Ning Liu; Taizhe Tan; Chunyong Liang

doi:10.3390/ma10101158

Biomass Derived Nitrogen-Doped Highly Porous Carbon Material with a Hierarchical Porous Structure for High-Performance Lithium/Sulfur Batteries

Materials (Basel). 2017 Oct 6;10(10):1158. doi: 10.3390/ma10101158.

Authors

Yan Zhao¹, Xiaomin Zhang², Yusen He³, Ning Liu⁴, Taizhe Tan⁵, Chunyong Liang⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. zhaoyan84830@hotmail.com.
² School of Materials Science & Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. zxm15510922072@163.com.
³ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. hyshebut@163.com.
⁴ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. ningliu1985@hebut.edu.cn.
⁵ Synergy Innovation Institute of GDUT, Heyuan 517000, China. taizhetan@gdut.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Materials Science & Engineering, Research Institute for Energy Equipment Materials, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Materials Laminating Fabrication and Interface Control Technology, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300130, China. liangchunyong@126.com.

Abstract

A novel nitrogen doped mesoporous carbon (NMPC) with a hierarchical porous structure is prepared by simple carbonizing the green algae, which is applied as a host material to encapsulate sulfur for lithium/sulfur (Li/S) battery. The NMPC exhibits high pore volume as well as large specific surface area, and thus sulfur content in the S/NMPC composite reaches up to 63 wt %. When tested in a Li/S battery, the S/NMPC composite yields a high initial capacity of 1327 mAh·g^-1 as well as 757 mAh·g^-1 after 100 cycles at a current rate of 0.1 C, a reversible capacity of 642 was achieved even at 1 C. This good electrochemical performance of the S/NMPC composite could be attributed to a unique combination of mesopority and surface chemistry, allowing for the retention of the intermediate polysuflides within the carbon framework.

Keywords: hierarchical porous structure; layered structure; lithium/sulfur batteries; mesoporous; nitrogen-doped.