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Improved performance of lithium-sulfur battery by a functional separator design

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Abstract

A novel polyacrylamide/mixed carbon black-coated separator was fabricated for lithium-sulfur batteries. It is demonstrated that the coated separator greatly improves cell performance. Although a quite commonly elemental sulfur cathode was employed, Li-S cell loading the cathode and coated separator still delivers a reversible capacity of up to 688 mAh g−1 after 50 cycles, with a decay rate of only 0.0017% per cycle based on the second discharge. The coated separator restrains polysulfides by a combination of physical and chemical interaction, hence suppressing shuttle effect during cycling. Besides, the coating contributes a highly conductive and hydrophilic surface, increasing the utilization of active material and reducing charge-transfer resistance.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51604221, 51641105, and 51404304) and the Key Innovation Team of Shaanxi Province (2014KCT-04).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Hai Lu, Jinlei Wang, Huiling Du & Dawei Yi

  2. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Tao Li, Jing Fang & Bo Hong

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

    Bo Hong

Authors
  1. Hai Lu
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  2. Jinlei Wang
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  3. Tao Li
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  4. Huiling Du
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  5. Dawei Yi
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  6. Jing Fang
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  7. Bo Hong
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hai Lu or Bo Hong.

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Lu, H., Wang, J., Li, T. et al. Improved performance of lithium-sulfur battery by a functional separator design. J Solid State Electrochem 22, 953–958 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3808-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10008-017-3808-8

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