Cr2O3 Nanoparticle Decorated Carbon Nanofibers Derived from Solid Leather Wastes for High Performance Lithium-Sulfur Battery Separator Coating. Issue 8 (20th May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Guan, Yuepeng; Liu, Xiaojun; Akhtar, Naseem; Wang, Anbang; Wang, Weikun; Zhang, Hao; Suntivich, Jin; Huang, Yaqin
• Is Part Of: Journal of the Electrochemical Society. Volume 166:Issue 8(2019)
• Page Start: A1671
• Page End: A1676
• Publication Date: 2019-05-20
• Subjects: Batteries -- Batteries - Lithium -- Energy Storage -- carbon fibers -- lithium-sulfur batteries -- solid leather wastes; Electrochemistry -- Periodicals; 541.3705
• DOI: 10.1149/2.1181908jes
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-4651

Abstract

Abstract : The lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery has been considered as a promising energy storage system due to its high energy density (2600 Wh kg −1 ) and low cost. However, Li-S battery still exhibits significant challenge for commercial application due to the "shuttle effect". Here, we prepare a composite of Cr2 O3 -decorated carbon nanofibers (Cr-CNFs) inherited from natural collagen fibers of solid leather wastes (SLWs) and design a multifunctional separator coating for high-performance Li-S batteries. The physical blocking effect of the fibrous morphology of Cr-CNFs and the chemical adsorption by nano Cr2 O3 phase in Cr-CNFs could synergistically trap polysulfides to suppress the shuttle effect in Li-S batteries. Moreover, the Cr-CNFs can form conductive network in the as-prepared separator coating, which facilitates the efficient utilization of active materials, due to its specific fibrous structure. Our results demonstrate a superior capacity retention (∼810 mAh g −1 after 260 cycles at 0.2 C, < 0.1% decay rate per cycle), long cycle life, and high coulombic efficiency (>95%) for the Li-S batteries built with our Cr-CNFs separator coating. The high performance of Li-S battery with Cr-CNFs separator coating as well as the efficient reutilization of SLWs make the Cr-CNFs a promising material for Li-S batteries.