Preparation of Hierarchical Porous Carbon/Sulfur Composite Based on Lotus-leaves and Its Property for Li-S Batteries

doi:10.15541/jim20150373

Abstract

Abstract:

The carbon skeleton with high specific surface (572.1 m²/g) and large number of hierarchical pores especially micro-pores (average pore size at 3.2 nm) was obtained from common lotus-leaves by using multistage carbonization method. Ball milling and melting method were used to synthesize different S contents (48wt%/ 62wt%/71wt%) carbon/sulfur composite materials. XRD, FESEM, EDS, and TG were employed to analyze structure and morphology of the samples. The result indicated that element sulfur was uniformly accommodated in the skeletons which were composed by graphene-like layered structure and micrometer sticks. Charge/discharge tests at current density of 0.1C in the voltage range of 1.2-2.8 V showed that the initial discharge specific capacity of the carbon/sulfur composite (62wt%) reached 1246 mAh/g, and its capacity still remained 600 mAh/g even after 100 charge/discharge cycles. The results prove that the obtain composites can suppress the “shuttle effect” of polysulfide species effectively.

Key words: lithium sulfur battery, multistage carbonization, hierarchical porous pores, lotus-leaves

CLC Number:

TM912

YANG Shu-Ting, YAN Chong, CAO Zhao-Xia, SHI Meng-Jiao, LI Yan-Lei, YIN Yan-Hong. Preparation of Hierarchical Porous Carbon/Sulfur Composite Based on Lotus-leaves and Its Property for Li-S Batteries[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2016, 31(2): 135-140.

Figures/Tables 10

Fig. 1 XRD patterns of samples (a) Sulfur; (b) Hierarchical porous carbon; (c) C/S composites

Fig. 2 TGA profiles of C/S composite with different sulfur contents (a) 48wt% S; (b) 62wt% S; (c) 71wt% S

Fig. 3 Adsorption-desorption isothermal and inset pore size distribution curves of carbon (a) and carbon/sulfur composite materials (b)

Table 1 Pore parameters derived from N2 adsorption data

Samples	Surface area /(m²·g^-1)	Pore diameter /nm	Pore volume /(cm³·g^-1)
C	572.1	3.31	0.52
C/S	11.5	0.04	0.08

Fig. 4 FESEM images of hierarchical porous carbon (a~d) and EDS analysis (e, f) (a) Morphology before acid treatment; (b) Morphology after acid treatment; (c) Similar graphene layered structure; (d) Similar micrometer sticks; (e) Qualitative analysis of EDS; (f) Quantitative analysis of EDS

Table 2 EDS quantitative analysis of C/S composite

Element	wt%	at%
Sulfur16 K-series	67.55	43.81
Carbon6 K-series	32.45	56.19
Chlorine17 K-series	0.00	0.00

Fig. 5 Cycling performance of C/S composite with different contents of sulfur (a: 62wt% S; b: 48wt% S; c:71wt% S)

Fig. 6 Galvanostatic charge-discharge curves of the 1st, 5th, 20th charge-discharge process for C/S composite with 62wt% sulfur

Fig. 7 Rate performance of C/S (62wt%) composite

Fig. 8 CV profiles of C/S composite with 62wt% sulfur at scanning rate of 0.05 mV/s

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