Enhanced performance of sulfur-infiltrated bimodal mesoporous carbon foam by chemical solution deposition as cathode materials for lithium sulfur batteries.
The porous carbon matrix is widely recognized to be a promising sulfur reservoir to improve the cycle life by suppressing the polysulfide dissolution in lithium sulfur batteries (LSB). Herein, we synthesized mesocellular carbon foam (MSUF-C) with bimodal mesopore (4 and 30 nm) and large pore volume (1.72 cm2/g) using MSUF silica as a template and employed it as both the sulfur reservoir and the conductive agent in the sulfur cathode. Sulfur was uniformly infiltrated into MSUF-C pores by a chemical solution deposition method (MSUF-C/S CSD) and the amount of sulfur loading was achieved as high as 73% thanks to the large pore volume with the CSD approach. MSUF-C/S CSD showed a high capacity (889 mAh/g after 100 cycles at 0.2 C), an improved rate capability (879 mAh/g at 1C and 420 mAh/g at 2C), and a good capacity retention with a fade rate of 0.16% per cycle over 100 cycles.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.|Center for Energy Convergence, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea.
Tae-Gyung
TG
Jeong
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea.
Jinyong
J
Chun
Center for Energy Convergence, Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Seoul 02792, Republic of Korea.
Byung-Won
BW
Cho
Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea.
Jinwoo
J
Lee
School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Busan 609-735, Republic of Korea.
Yong-Tae
YT
Kim