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Sakura Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbons As a High-Performance Cathode Host for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

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Abstract

Sakura petals were collected as raw materials for the manufacture of porous carbon hosts for use as cathodes in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries by a direct pyrolysis method and chemical activation process. The evolution of the morphology and microstructure of sakura petal-derived carbon materials was investigated in detail. Furthermore, the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries assembled from composite cathodes with sakura petal-derived carbon products as the host and pure sulfur as the active material were systematically researched. The results indicated that the morphology of the products changed from a plate-like morphology to plates with ordered grooves and then to a wrinkled sheet-like morphology. In addition, many micropores were formed during the activation process. Moreover, the sample that underwent two-step activation exhibited an improved specific discharging capacity, cycling performance and rate performance. In summary, the sakura-derived carbon host is expected to assist in the future application of Li-S batteries.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grant No. 51974242]; the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [Grant No. 2019M653706, 2018M633544]; Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Shanxi Province of China [Grant No. 2018BSHEDZZ120]; the Science and Technology Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government [Grant No. 2021GY-151, 2020JM-450, 2019TD-019]; the Education Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government [Grant No. 18JS058]; and the Xi’an Key Laboratory of Clean Energy [Grant Nos. 2019219914SYS014CG036, 201805033YD11CG17(7)].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Research Center for Composite and Intelligent Manufacturing Technology, Institute of Chemical Power Sources, School of Science, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, People’s Republic of China

    Yinglin Yan, Chaojiang Fan & Rong Yang

  2. Department of Chemistry, Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Yinglin Yan

  3. School of Materials and Science Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710048, People’s Republic of China

    Wei Jing, Chaojiang Fan, Qijiu Deng, Lisheng Zhong, Caiyin You & Rong Yang

  4. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Nano-materials and Technology, Xi’an Key Laboratory of Clean Energy, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710055, People’s Republic of China

    Juan Wang

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  1. Yinglin Yan
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  2. Wei Jing
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  3. Chaojiang Fan
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  4. Qijiu Deng
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  5. Lisheng Zhong
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  6. Juan Wang
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  7. Caiyin You
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  8. Rong Yang
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Contributions

YY: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing - Original Draft, Visualization Wei Jing: Investigation, Writing - Original Draft, Data Curation, Visualization CF: Investigation, Validation, Data Curation QD: Formal analysis LZ: Formal analysis JW: Resources CY: Supervision RY: Resources, Writing - Review & Editing, Supervision.

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Correspondence to Yinglin Yan or Rong Yang.

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Yan, Y., Jing, W., Fan, C. et al. Sakura Derived Hierarchical Porous Carbons As a High-Performance Cathode Host for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. J. Electron. Mater. 51, 57–67 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-021-09262-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-021-09262-3

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