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Yeast-Derived Carbon Nanotube-Coated Separator for High Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

  • Nanomaterials and Composites for Energy Conversion and Storage
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Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is an appealing energy storage technology because of its superior theoretical energy density, natural friendliness and low cost over Li-ion battery. However, Li-S batteries often suffer from fast capacity decay, low energy density and short lifespan due to the shuttle effect from polysulfides. Hybridizing sulfur with carbonaceous materials has been demonstrated effective in solving these challenges and thus improving Li-S battery performance. In this work, yeast as a low-cost, natural and renewable catalyst was used to grow carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which were then coated on the separator in a Li-S battery to suppress the shuttle effect of polysulfides. The Li-S cell with the CNT-coated separator exhibited significantly improved performance at high current density with an initial high specific capacity of 980 mA h g−1 and a well-retained specific capacity of ~ 450 mA h g−1 after 850 cycles at a high current density.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this study was provided by the US National Science Foundation (CMMI-1728042). The authors thank the staff members at the University of Virginia NMCF for electron microscopy technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Virginia, 122 Engineer’s Way, Charlottesville, VA, 22904-4746, USA

    Jiajun He, Zan Gao & Xiaodong Li

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  1. Jiajun He
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  2. Zan Gao
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  3. Xiaodong Li
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Correspondence to Xiaodong Li.

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He, J., Gao, Z. & Li, X. Yeast-Derived Carbon Nanotube-Coated Separator for High Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. JOM 73, 2516–2524 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-021-04752-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-021-04752-5

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