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Porous carbon nanofibers prepared by low-cost and environmentally friendly ammonium chloride for high-performance Li–S batteries

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Abstract

Compared to conventional lithium batteries, lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries are not only low-cost and environmentally friendly but also have a high theoretical energy density. However, the insulating nature of sulfur materials and the poor cycle stability of Li–S batteries inhibit their commercialization. Herein, porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs) were fabricated by a facile electrospinning method and used as a cathode hosting sulfur for Li–S batteries. The porous structure effectively restrained soluble polysulfides from migrating due to shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries. With the PCNFs as the sulfur host, the PCNFs/S cathode exhibited excellent cycling stability. An initial specific capacity of 835 mAh g−1 at 0.1C and a reversible capacity of 98.6% after 100 cycles were achieved. This outstanding performance can be ascribed to the rational design of the electrode structure, which can increase the interfacial contact and provide a large number of electrochemically active sites for polysulfide storage.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos. LY21F040008, LY21E020011), the Applied Basic Research Project of China National Textile and Apparel Council (grant no. J201801), and the Fundamental Research Funds of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Textile Science and Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Zhengfei Jin, Xiangyu Ma, Linlin Qiu, Yang Liu, Lixin Song, Pingfan Du & Jie Xiong

  2. Key Laboratory of Advanced Textile Materials and Manufacturing Technology (Ministry of Education), Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Pingfan Du & Jie Xiong

  3. College of Machinery and Automation, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Hangzhou, 310018, People’s Republic of China

    Yongfeng Yuan

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  1. Zhengfei Jin
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  2. Xiangyu Ma
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  3. Linlin Qiu
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  4. Yang Liu
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  8. Jie Xiong
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Correspondence to Pingfan Du or Jie Xiong.

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Jin, Z., Ma, X., Qiu, L. et al. Porous carbon nanofibers prepared by low-cost and environmentally friendly ammonium chloride for high-performance Li–S batteries. Ionics 28, 1157–1166 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-021-04350-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-021-04350-0

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