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Polypyrrole-coated loose network mesoporous carbon/sulfur composite for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

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Abstract

Lithium-sulfur batteries have received a lot of attention for next-generation energy storage, however, low conductivity of the sulfur cathode and shuttle of polysulfides still limit the utilization of sulfur. In this work, a polypyrrole-coated loose network mesoporous carbon/sulfur composite (C/S@PPy) was designed. In this structure, the conductive networks of mesoporous carbon are perfect hosts to contain sulfur and enhance the conductivity of the cathode; the conductive polymer-coating layer further inhibits the lithium polysulfides from dissolution and migration in the electrolyte. Compared with C/S, the C/S@PPy composite exhibited an excellent rate capability and enhanced cyclic stability. An initial discharge capacity of 1209.6 mAh g−1 was achieved for the C/S@PPy electrode in the first cycle at 0.1 C, and capacity retention of 62.2% was obtained after 300 cycles at 0.2 C.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, China (2018JJ3176).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University of Science and Technology, ** Tang

  2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Controllable Preparation and Functional Application of Fine Polymers, Hunan Province College Key Laboratory of QSAR/QSPR, **angtan, China

    Haishen Song & Lihua Liu

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  1. Haishen Song
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  2. Yi** Pan
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  3. An** Tang
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  4. Guorong Xu
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  5. Lihua Liu
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  6. Hezhang Chen
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Correspondence to Haishen Song.

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Song, H., Pan, Y., Tang, A. et al. Polypyrrole-coated loose network mesoporous carbon/sulfur composite for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries. Ionics 25, 3121–3127 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-019-02866-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-019-02866-0

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