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Research Article

Tailoring polysulfide trapping and kinetics by engineering hollow carbon bubble nanoreactors for high-energy Li-S pouch cells

Lei Wang1,3,§, Shuangke Liu2,§, Jin Hu1, Xianan Zhang1, Xin Li1, Guanhua Zhang1( ), Yujie Li2, Chunman Zheng2, Xiaobin Hong2( ), Huigao Duan1 ( )
National Engineering Research Center for High Efficiency Grinding, College of Mechanical and Vehicle Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
College of Aerospace Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China
School of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation, Foshan University, Foshan 528225, China
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Abstract

Despite great progress of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery performance at the laboratory-level, both key parameters and challenges at cell scales to achieve practical high energy density require high-sulfur-loading cathodes and lean electrolytes. Herein, a novel carbon foam integrated by hollow carbon bubble nanoreactors with ultrahigh pore volume of 6.9 cm3·g-1 is meticulously designed for ultrahigh sulfur content up to 96 wt.%. Tailoring polysulfide trapping and ion/electron transport kinetics during the charge-discharge process can be achieved by adjusting the wall thickness of hollow carbon bubbles. And a further in-depth understanding of electrochemical reaction mechanism for the cathode is impelled by the in-situ Raman spectroscopy. As a result, the as-prepared cathode delivers high specific capacitances of 1,269 and 695 mAh·g-1 at 0.1 and 5 C, respectively. Furthermore, Li-S pouch cells with high areal sulfur loading of 6.9 mg·cm-2 yield exceptional practical energy density of 382 Wh·kg-1 under lean electrolyte of 3.5 μL·mg-1, which demonstrates the great potential for realistic high-energy Li-S batteries.

Keywords

lithium-sulfur batterieshigh energy densityhollow carbon bubble nanoreactorsultrahigh pore volumetunable wall thickness

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Nano Research
Volume 14 Issue 5,
May 2021
Pages 1355-1363
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-020-3181-2
Cite this article:
Wang L, Liu S, Hu J, et al. Tailoring polysulfide trapping and kinetics by engineering hollow carbon bubble nanoreactors for high-energy Li-S pouch cells. Nano Research, 2021, 14(5): 1355-1363. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-020-3181-2
Topics:
CathodesElectrolytesLithium batteries

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Received: 16 July 2020
Revised: 30 September 2020
Accepted: 12 October 2020
Published: 05 January 2021
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
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