TY - JOUR

T1 - Microporous novolac-derived carbon beads/sulfur hybrid cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries

AU - Chourdhury, Soumyadip

AU - Krüner, Benjamin

AU - Massuti-Ballester, Pau

AU - Tolosa, Aura

AU - Prehal, Christian

AU - Grobelsek, Ingrid

AU - Paris, Oskar

AU - Borchardt, Lars

AU - Presser, Volker

PY - 2017/5/9

Y1 - 2017/5/9

N2 - Novolac-derived nanoporous carbon beads were used as conductive matrix for lithium-sulfur battery cathodes. We employed a facile self-emulsifying synthesis to obtain sub-micrometer novolac-derived carbon beads with nanopores. After pyrolysis, the carbon beads showed already a specific surface area of 640 m2 g-1 which was increased to 2080 m2 g-1 after physical activation. The non-activated and the activated carbon beads represent nanoporous carbon with a medium and a high surface area, respectively. This allows us to assess the influence of the porosity on the electrochemical performance of lithium-sulfur battery cathodes. The carbon/sulfur hybrids were obtained from two different approaches of sulfur infiltration: melt-infusion of sulfur (annealing) and in situ formation of sulfur from sodium thiosulfate. The best performance (∼880 mAh gsulfur-1 at low charge rate; 5th cycle) and high performance stability (>600 mAh gsulfur-1 after 100 cycles) were found for the activated carbon beads when using melt infusion of sulfur.

AB - Novolac-derived nanoporous carbon beads were used as conductive matrix for lithium-sulfur battery cathodes. We employed a facile self-emulsifying synthesis to obtain sub-micrometer novolac-derived carbon beads with nanopores. After pyrolysis, the carbon beads showed already a specific surface area of 640 m2 g-1 which was increased to 2080 m2 g-1 after physical activation. The non-activated and the activated carbon beads represent nanoporous carbon with a medium and a high surface area, respectively. This allows us to assess the influence of the porosity on the electrochemical performance of lithium-sulfur battery cathodes. The carbon/sulfur hybrids were obtained from two different approaches of sulfur infiltration: melt-infusion of sulfur (annealing) and in situ formation of sulfur from sodium thiosulfate. The best performance (∼880 mAh gsulfur-1 at low charge rate; 5th cycle) and high performance stability (>600 mAh gsulfur-1 after 100 cycles) were found for the activated carbon beads when using melt infusion of sulfur.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.05.005

DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.05.005

M3 - Article

VL - 357.2017

SP - 198

EP - 208

JO - Journal of power sources

JF - Journal of power sources

SN - 0378-7753

IS - 31. July

ER -