Abstract
A novel polyacrylamide/mixed carbon black-coated separator was fabricated for lithium-sulfur batteries. It is demonstrated that the coated separator greatly improves cell performance. Although a quite commonly elemental sulfur cathode was employed, Li-S cell loading the cathode and coated separator still delivers a reversible capacity of up to 688 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles, with a decay rate of only 0.0017% per cycle based on the second discharge. The coated separator restrains polysulfides by a combination of physical and chemical interaction, hence suppressing shuttle effect during cycling. Besides, the coating contributes a highly conductive and hydrophilic surface, increasing the utilization of active material and reducing charge-transfer resistance.
References
Seh ZW, Sun Y, Zhang Q, Cui Y (2016) Designing high-energy lithium–sulfur batteries. Chem Soc Rev 45:5605–5634
Ogoke O, Wu G, Wang X, Casimir A, Ma L, Wu T, Lu J (2017) Effective strategies for stabilizing sulfur for advanced lithium–sulfur batteries. J Mater Chem A 5:448–469
W-m K, Ma X-m, Y-x Z, H-h Z, Cheng B-w, Y-b L (2015) Research progress of separator materials for lithium-sulfur batteries. Acta Polym Sin 11:1258–1265
Zhu J, Ge Y, Kim D, Lu Y, Chen C, Jiang M, Zhang X (2016) A novel separator coated by carbon for achieving exceptional high performance lithium-sulfur batteries. Nano Energy 20:176–184
Song R, Fang R, Wen L, Shi Y, Wang S, Li F (2016) A trilayer separator with dual function for high performance lithium–sulfur batteries. J Power Sources 301:179–186
Abbas SA, Ibrahem MA, L-H H, Lin C-N, Fang J, Boopathi KM, Wang P-C, Li L-J, Chu C-W (2016) Bifunctional separator as a polysulfide mediator for highly stable Li-S batteries. J Mater Chem A 4:9661–9669
An F, Feng X, Gao B (2009) Adsorption mechanism and property of a novel adsorption material PAM/SiO2 towards 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. J Hazard Mater 168:352–357
Zhao Q, Sun J, Lin Y, Zhou Q (2010) Study of the properties of hydrolyzed polyacrylamide hydrogels with various pore structures and rapid PH-sensitivities. React Funct Polym 70:602–609
Su Q, Duan L, Zou M, Chen X, Gao GH (2017) The tough allograft adhesive behavior between polyacrylamide and poly(acrylic acid) hydrophobic association hydrogels. Mater Chem Phys 193:57–62
Seh ZW, Zhang Q, Li W, Zheng G, Yao H, Cui Y (2013) Stable cycling of lithium sulfide cathodes through strong affinity with a bifunctional binder. Chem Sci 4:3673–3677
Li T (2017) Carbon-coated aluminum foil as current collector for improving the performance of lithium sulfur batteries. Int J Electrochem Sci 12:3099–3108
Lu H, Zhang K, Yuan Y, Qin F, Zhang Z, Lai Y, Liu Y (2015) Lithium/sulfur batteries with mixed liquid electrolytes based on ethyl 1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethyl ether. Electrochim Acta 161:55–62
Lu H, Yuan Y, Zhang K, Qin F, Lai Y, Liu Y (2015) Application of partially fluorinated ether for improving performance of lithium/sulfur batteries. J Electrochem Soc 162:A1460–A1465
Aurbach D, Pollak E, Elazari R, Salitra G, Kelley CS, Affinito J (2009) On the surface chemical aspects of very high energy density, rechargeable li–sulfur batteries. J Electrochem Soc 156:A694–A702
Moy D, Narayanan SR (2017) Mixed conduction membranes suppress the polysulfide shuttle in lithium-sulfur batteries. J Electrochem Soc 164:A560–A566
Zhang Z, Lai Y, Zhang Z, Zhang K, Li J (2014) Al2O3-coated porous separator for enhanced electrochemical performance of lithium sulfur batteries. Electrochim Acta 129:55–61
Zhang Z, Lai Y, Zhang Z, Li J (2015) A functional carbon layer-coated separator for high performance lithium sulfur batteries. Solid State Ionics 278:166–171
Zhang Z, Zhang Z, Li J, Lai Y (2015) Polydopamine-coated separator for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries. J Solid State Electrochem 19:1709–1715
Li GC, **g HK, Su Z, Lai C, Chen L, Yuan CC, Li HH, Liu L (2015) A hydrophilic separator for high performance lithium sulfur batteries. J Mater Chem A 3:11014–11020
Funding
This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51604221, 51641105, and 51404304) and the Key Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (2014KCT-04).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lu, H., Wang, J., Li, T. et al. Improved performance of lithium-sulfur battery by a functional separator design. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 953–958 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3808-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3808-8