Carbon nanotubes-intercalated Co-N-C as a robust sulfur host for lithium-sulfur batteries. (January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Beibei; Fan, Kaili; Li, Junhua; Liu, Guiyu; Liu, Youcai; Yang, Chunming; Tong, Haixia; Han, Kai; Qian, Dong
• Is Part Of: Materials research bulletin. Volume 121(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-01
• Subjects: Carbon nanotubes intercalation -- Metallic cobalt and N-doped carbon composite -- Zeolite imidazolate framework-67 -- Electrochemical performance -- Lithium-sulfur batteries; Materials -- Periodicals; Crystal growth -- Periodicals; Matériaux -- Périodiques; Cristaux -- Croissance -- Périodiques; Crystal growth; Materials; Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2019.110625
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-5408

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: We design a sulfur host with CNTs intercalated to cobalt and N-doped carbon hybrid. The intercalated CNTs can significantly improve Li–S battery performance. The boosted property owes to increases of BET area, sulfur loading and conductivity. Abstract: We design a novel sulfur host composite with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) intercalated to the polyhedrons consisting of metallic cobalt and N-doped carbon derived from zeolite imidazolate framework-67 (Co-N-C/CNTs). As compared with the pristine Co-N-C, the intercalated CNTs can lead to significant enhancements of specific surface area, sulfur loading and electroconductivity, thus pronouncedly improving the overall Li-S battery performance. More specifically, the Co-N-C/CNTs/S cathode delivers an initial discharge capacity of 1440.6 mA h g −1 at 0.1C while 1104.4 mA h g −1 for Co-N-C/S. At 1C, the capacity decay rate of Co-N-C/CNTs/S is 0.09% per cycle after 500 cycles with the coulombic efficiency more than 98.2%, while 0.14% per cycle with the coulombic efficiency of 96.4% for Co-N-C/S. Evidently, the interpenetration of CNTs into the sulfur host materials is a simple and effective strategy to promote the Li-S battery performance.