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Graphene and polydopamine double-wrapped porous carbon-sulfur cathode materials for lithium-sulfur batteries with high capacity and cycling stability

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Abstract

Rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries are deemed to be a promising energy supply to next-generation high energy power system, yet dissolution of lithium polysulfides in the electrolyte leads to poor cycling performance. Here, we report an approach to assemble graphene and polydopamine double-wrapped porous carbon/sulfur (GN-PD-PC-S) for lithium-sulfur batteries. Remarkably, the double-wrapping graphene and polydopamine further help confine the sulfur and polysulfides inside the mesopores and micropores of porous carbon. Moreover, the hierarchical porous structures provide a conductive network for electron transfer and facilitate the effective accommodation of the volume change of sulfur. The GN-PD-PC-S cathode presents an excellent cycling stability of 821 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles, with a favorable high-rate capability of 496 mAh g−1 at a current density of 2 A g−1. Our results indicate the importance of chemically synergistic effect of polymer and carbon in the electrode system for achieving high-performance electrodes in rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries.

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Acknowledgements

Y.D. and R.T.H. contributed equally to this work. This work was supported by the Natural Scientific Foundation of China (51532002, 51575030 and 51372022), National Basic Research Program of China (2015CB932500 and 2013CB934001), and State Key Laboratory of New Ceramic and Fine Processing, Tsinghua University.

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  1. Key Laboratory of New Energy Materials and Technologies, Institute of Advanced Materials and Technology, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Yuan Dong, Run-Tian He & Li-Zhen Fan

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  1. Yuan Dong
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  2. Run-Tian He
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  3. Li-Zhen Fan
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Correspondence to Li-Zhen Fan.

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Dong, Y., He, RT. & Fan, LZ. Graphene and polydopamine double-wrapped porous carbon-sulfur cathode materials for lithium-sulfur batteries with high capacity and cycling stability. Ionics 23, 3329–3337 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-017-2138-2

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