Microporous Carbon Polyhedrons Encapsulated Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibers as Sulfur Immobilizer for Lithium-Sulfur Battery.
Microporous carbon polyhedrons (MCPs) are encapsulated into polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers by electrospinning the mixture of MCPs and PAN. Subsequently, the as-prepared MCPs-PAN nanofibers are employed as sulfur immobilizer for lithium-sulfur battery. Here, the S/MCPs-PAN multicomposites integrate the advantage of sulfur/microporous carbon and sulfurized PAN. Specifically, with large pore volume, MCPs inside PAN nanofibers provide a sufficient sulfur loading. While PAN-based nanofibers offer a conductive path and matrix. Therefore, the electrochemical performance is significantly improved for the S/MCPs-PAN multicomposite with a suitable sulfur content in carbonate-based electrolyte. At the current density of 160 mA g-1sulfur, the S/MPCPs-PAN composite delivers a large discharge capacity of 789.7 mAh g-1composite, high Coulombic efficiency of about 100% except in the first cycle, and good capacity retention after 200 cycles. In particular, even at 4 C rate, the S/MCPs-PAN composite can still release the discharge capacity of 370 mAh g-1composite. On the contrary, the formation of the thick SEI layer on the surface of nanofibers with a high sulfur content are observed, which is responsible for the quick capacity deterioration of the sulfur-based composite in carbonate-based electrolyte. This design of the S/MCPs-PAN multicomposite is helpful for the fabrication of stable Li-S battery.
Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University , Tianjin 300350, China.
Ye-Zheng
YZ
Zhang
Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University , Tianjin 300350, China.
Zhen-Zhen
ZZ
Wu
Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of the Ministry of Education, Nankai University , Tianjin 300071, China.
Gui-Ling
GL
Pan
Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University , Tianjin 300350, China.
Sheng
S
Liu
Institute of New Energy Material Chemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, National Institute for Advanced Materials, Nankai University , Tianjin 300350, China.
Xue-Ping
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7305-7567
XP
Gao
SEI layer; electrospinning; lithium−sulfur battery; microporous carbon polyhedrons; polyacrylonitrile