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Isothermal sulfur condensation into carbon nanotube/nitrogen-doped graphene composite for high performance lithium–sulfur batteries

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Abstract

Nitrogen-doped graphene (NG) is a promising material for fabricating high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries. Here a facile hydrothermal method was used to synthesize the NG and then the composite of NG and SWCNT (NG/SWCNT) was obtained by mixing with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) via a simple ultrasonic method. Finally, the NG/SWCNT-sulfur composite (NG/SWCNT-S) is synthesized via an isothermal method that enables rapid vapor infiltration of sulfur into carbon nanotubes. The resulting sulfur-containing cathode shows a good capacity performance, reaching high initial capacities of 1199.6 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and 725.2 mAh g−1 at 1 C. The optimized electrochemical performance can be attributed to the NG addition which leads to an effective improvement of sulfur utilization and seizing polysulfides during cycling. Moreover, we show that the vapor infiltration method based on the thermodynamics of capillary condensation on nanoscale surfaces offers a new idea for assembling cathode, compared to the traditional melt infiltration method.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Grants 2175011441), Suzhou Science and Technology Programme (SYG201623), Suzhou Industrial Park Initiative Platform Development for Suzhou Municipal Key Lab for New Energy Technology (RR0140), and Key Program Special Fund in XJTLU (KSF-A-04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Xi’an-Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Xianwei Geng, Ruowei Yi & Li Yang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Xianwei Geng, Zhiming Yu, Qiuping Wei & Bing Lu

  3. Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 7ZD, UK

    Ruowei Yi & Li Yang

  4. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Xi’an-Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Cezhou Zhao, Chenguang Liu & Yinchao Zhao

  5. Dongguan Hongde Battery Ltd.Co., Dongguan, 523649, China

    Yinqing Li

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  1. Xianwei Geng
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  2. Ruowei Yi
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Geng, X., Yi, R., Yu, Z. et al. Isothermal sulfur condensation into carbon nanotube/nitrogen-doped graphene composite for high performance lithium–sulfur batteries. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 29, 10071–10081 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-018-9051-y

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