Encapsulation of Sulfur into N‐Doped Porous Carbon Cages by a Facile, Template‐Free Method for Stable Lithium‐Sulfur Cathode
Shuaibo Zeng, Gowri Manohari Arumugam, Xianhu Liu, Yuzhao Yang, Xin Li, Hai Zhong, Fei Guo, Yaohua Mai
Abstract
Abstract Lithium‐sulfur (Li‐S) batteries with a high energy density and long lifespan are considered as promising candidates for next‐generation electrochemical energy‐storage devices. However, the sluggish redox kinetics of electrochemistry and high solubility of polysulfide during cycling render insufficient sulfur utilization and poor cycling stability. Herein, a facile, template‐free procedure based on controlled pyrolysis of polydopamine vesicles is described to prepare N‐doped porous carbon cages (NHSC) as a new sulfur host, which significantly improves both the sulfur utilization and cycling stability. As NHSC shows a high pore volume, continuous electron and ion transport paths, and good catalytic activity, encapsulation of S nanoparticles into NHSC endows the resulting S@NHSC electrode with a good energy storage capacity and exceptionally high electrochemical stability. Consequently, a Li‐S cell with the S@NHSC as the cathode achieves a high initial capacity of 1280.7 mAh g −1 , and cycling stability over 500 cycles with the capacity decay as low as 0.0373% per cycle.