Tuning Rational Micropore/Mesopores Network Structure of Biomass‐Derived Carbon/Sulfur Cathode for High‐Performance Na‐S Batteries
Lifei Liu, Chao Wu, Jie Chen, Yali Jiang, Juan Li, Heng Zhang, Chang Ming Li
Abstract
Sluggish electrode kinetics and polysulfide dissolution severely hinder room‐temperature sodium‐sulfur batteries (RT Na‐S) from achieving high‐theoretical capacity and low cost. Metal‐based catalysts are often used to absorb polysulfide intermediates against the shuttle effect in Na‐S batteries, but rationalization of an electrode pore structure to improve battery performance is ignored. Herein, a rational micropore/mesopore network structure of macadamia nut shell‐derived carbon is constructed as a carbon/sulfur cathode by tuning the ratio of micro to mesopore. The cathode simultaneously boosts mass transport for high‐rate performance while confining the shuttle effect for long cycles, thus delivering excellent Na‐storage performance with high capacities of 912 mAh g −1 at 0.1 A g −1 and 360 mAh g −1 at 5 A g −1 , ranking the best among all reported plain carbon‐based sodium‐sulfur electrodes. This work holds great promise for biomass‐derived inexpensive plain carbon‐based electrodes in practical high‐rate applications, while shedding light on the fundamentals of pore structure effects of a carbon electrode on high‐performance batteries, thus possessing universal significance in the designs of rational pore structures in energy conversions.