New Scalable Sulfur Cathode Containing Specifically Designed Polysulfide Adsorbing Materials

Abstract

Because of its considerable theoretical specific capacity and energy density, lithium–sulfur battery technology holds great potential to replace lithium-ion battery technology. However, a versatile, low-cost, and easily scalable bulk synthesis method is essential for translating bench-level development to large-scale production. This paper reports the design and synthesis of a new scalable sulfur cathode, S@CNT/PANI/PPyNT/TiO2 (BTX). The rationally chosen cathode components suppress the migration of polysulfide intermediates via chemical interactions, enhance redox kinetics, and provide electrical conductivity to sulfur, rendering outstanding long-term cycling performance and strong initial specific capacity in terms of electrochemical performance. This cathode’s cell demonstrated an initial specific capacity of 740 mA h g−1 at 0.2 C (with a capacity decay rate of 0.08% per cycle after 450 cycles).

Keywords

• lithium–sulfur batteries
• bulk sulfur cathode synthesis
• titanium dioxide
• polypyrrole
• polyaniline
• carbon nanotubes