Flexible Carbon Nanotube Modified Separator for High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Bin Liu,
Xiaomeng Wu,
Shan Wang,
Zhen Tang,
Quanling Yang,
Guo-Hua Hu,
Chuanxi Xiong
Affiliations
Bin Liu
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Xiaomeng Wu
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Shan Wang
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Zhen Tang
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Quanling Yang
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Guo-Hua Hu
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Chuanxi Xiong
State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have become promising candidates for electrical energy storage systems due to their high theoretical specific energy density, low cost and environmental friendliness. However, there are some technical obstacles of lithium-sulfur batteries to be addressed, such as the shuttle effect of polysulfides. Here, we introduced organically modified carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a coating layer for the separator to optimize structure and enhance the performance of the Li-S battery. The results showed that the cell with a CNTs-coated separator exhibited an excellent cycling performance. Compared to the blank separator, the initial discharge capacity and the capacity after 100 cycles for the CNTs-coated separator was increased by 115% and 161%, respectively. Besides, according to the rate capability test cycling from 0.1C to 2C, the battery with a CNTs-coated separator still released a capacity amounting to 90.2% of the initial capacity, when the current density returned back to 0.1C. It is believed that the organically modified CNTs coating effectively suppresses the shuttle effect during the cycling. The employment of a CNTs-coated separator provides a promising approach for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.
