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Hollow-in-hollow carbon spheres with hollow foam-like cores for lithium–sulfur batteries

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Abstract

Lithium-sulfur batteries have attracted increasing attention because of their high theoretical capacity. Using sulfur/carbon composites as the cathode materials has been demonstrated as an effective strategy to optimize sulfur utilization and enhance cycle stability as well. In this work, hollow-in-hollow carbon spheres with hollow foam-like cores (HCSF@C) are prepared to improve both capability and cycling stability of lithium–sulfur batteries. With high surface area and large pore volumes, the loading of sulfur in HCSF@C reaches up to 70 wt.%. In the resulting S/HCSF@C composites, the outer carbon shell serves as an effective protection layer to trap the soluble polysulfide intermediates derived from the inner component. Consequently, the S/HCSF@C cathode retains a high capacity of 780 mAh/g after 300 cycles at a high charge/discharge rate of 1 A/g.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pen-Tung Sah Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Jun Zang, Yajie Dong & Xiaoliang Fang

  2. State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials, and Department of Chemistry, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Jun Zang, Taihua An, Mingsen Zheng, Quanfeng Dong & Nanfeng Zheng

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  1. Jun Zang
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  2. Taihua An
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  3. Yajie Dong
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  4. Xiaoliang Fang
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  6. Quanfeng Dong
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  7. Nanfeng Zheng
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Correspondence to Xiaoliang Fang or Nanfeng Zheng.

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Zang, J., An, T., Dong, Y. et al. Hollow-in-hollow carbon spheres with hollow foam-like cores for lithium–sulfur batteries. Nano Res. 8, 2663–2675 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0773-3

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