Ultra-high conductive 3D aluminum photonic crystal as sulfur immobilizer for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

The practical application of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries is hampered by the insulative nature of sulfur, sluggish electrochemical kinetics, and large volume variation, which result in capacity-fading at a large current density and poor cycling stability. Herein, a three-dimensional (3D) aluminum photonic crystal encapsulating sulfur (APC@S) composite as a binder-free cathode for Li-S battery is reported. The 3D APC@S cathode can deliver a fantastic capacity of 1, 517.8 mAh·g⁻¹ at 0.5 C, and retains 712.7 mAh·g⁻¹ after 1, 500 cycles at 2 C with a decay rate of 0.02% per cycle. Even at a high rate of 5 C, the reversible capacity can still maintain at 680.7 mAh·g⁻¹ after 1, 000 cycles with a capacity retention of 74.8%. Furthermore, the assembled soft-packaged Li-S battery also exhibits high reversible capacity and stable cycling performance. The excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the 3D hierarchical and continuously porous structure and high conductive aluminum-wall, which can effectively trap polysulfides, confine the volume expansion on cycling, and accelerate electron/ion transfer. It is expected that this high conductive metal cathode has a great future for the application of energy storage devices.