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Vol. 12 (2020)

Electrodeposited Sulfur and CoxS Electrocatalyst on Buckypaper as High-Performance Cathode for Li–S Batteries

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00479-1
Yi Zhan
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Andrea Buffa
Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190401 Jerusalem, Israel
Linghui Yu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Zhichuan J. Xu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Daniel Mandler
Institute of Chemistry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 9190401 Jerusalem, Israel

Corresponding Author: Daniel Mandler

daniel.mandler@mail.huji.ac.il

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 12 (2020), Article Number: 141

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) are considered as the next generation of advanced rechargeable batteries because of their high energy density. In this study, sulfur and CoxS electrocatalyst are deposited on carbon nanotube buckypaper (S/CoxS/BP) by a facile electrodeposition method and are used as a binder-free high-performance cathode for LSBs. Elemental sulfur is deposited on buckypaper by electrooxidation of a polysulfide solution (~ S62−). This approach substantially increased the current and time efficiency of sulfur electrochemical deposition on conductive material for LSBs. S/CoxS/BP cathode could deliver an initial discharge capacity as high as 1650 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C, which is close to the theoretical capacity of sulfur. At current rate of 0.5 C, the S/CoxS/BP has a capacity of 1420 mAh g−1 at the first cycle and 715 mAh g−1 after 500 cycles with a fading rate of 0.099% per cycle. The high capacity of S/CoxS/BP is attributed to both the homogeneous dispersion of nanosized sulfur within BP and the presence of CoxS catalyst. The sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) pretreatment of BP renders it polarity to bind polysulfides and thus facilitates the good dispersibility of nanosized sulfur within BP. CoxS catalyst accelerates the kinetics of polysulfide conversion and reduces the presence of polysulfide in the cathode, which suppresses the polysulfide diffusion to anode, i.e., the shuttle effect. The mitigation of the active material loss improves not only the capacity but also the cyclability of S/CoxS/BP.


Highlights:


1 Nanosized sulfur and CoxS electrocatalyst are electrodeposited on carbon nanotube buckypaper (S/CoxS/BP) as a binder-free high-performance cathode for lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs).
2 Both electrooxidation of a polysulfide solution (~S62−) to sulfur and the electrodeposition of highly active CoxS catalyst substantially increase the current and time efficiency of cathode preparation for LSBs.

Keywords

Electrodeposition Lithium sulfur batteries Buckypaper Electrocatalysts
Zhan, Yi, Andrea Buffa, Linghui Yu, Zhichuan J. Xu, and Daniel Mandler. 2020. “Electrodeposited Sulfur and CoxS Electrocatalyst on Buckypaper As High-Performance Cathode for Li–S Batteries”. Nano-Micro Letters 12 (July):141. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-020-00479-1.
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