Enhanced cycle performance of hollow polyaniline sphere/sulfur composite in comparison with pure sulfur for lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

a b s t r a c tSulfur deposited on a hollow polyaniline sphere was prepared through in situ synthesis and used to investigate the electrochemical properties of lithium/sulfur cells. The fabricated hPANIs@S composite presented an excellent reversible capacity of 601.9 mAh g À1 after 100 cycles at 170 mA g À1 . The capacity increased with the cycle increase, especially at high charge/discharge current. For example, the capacity had only approximate 270 mAh g À1 after initial 121th cycle at 510 mA g À1 , and the capacity steadily increased to 380 mAh g À1 after 180th cycle at similar current. These results indicated that cycle property improved compared with that of pure sulfur prepared through in situ synthesis under similar conditions. The enhanced cycle property of the hPANIs@S composite could be due to the homogeneous distribution of fine sulfur particles on the PANI surface, which stabilized the nanostructure of sulfur and enhanced its conductivity during charge/discharge cycles.

Recent advances in chemical adsorption and catalytic conversion materials for Li–S batteries

“…More importantly, positively charged amino-groups on the backbones of conducting polymers could adsorb negatively charged polysulfide anions via electrostatic attraction and confer superior cycling stability to Li-S batteries. In particular, conducting PANI, which comprises abundant N-containing groups on its backbone, has been fabricated into various nanostructures, including hollow spheres [43][44][45][46] , thin nanofibers [47] , and printed layers [48] , to immobilize LiPSs more efficiently.…”

A Simple Preparation of Polyaniline-coated Sulfur Composites for use as Cathodes in Li–S Batteries

“…Graphene, [3][4][5][6] carbon nanotubes (CNTs), [7][8][9] and carbon [10][11][12] have been investigated as sulfurbased cathode materials. Carbon-conductive polymer composite materials [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] and conductive polymer matrices [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] have also been widely tested for their ability to improve battery performance. Huang et al showed that graphene-coated sulfur composites could be used to improve cycling performance.…”

“…21 Wei et al synthesized hollow polyaniline sphere/sulfur composites using an etching method, and the composites showed good performance. 28 Sun et al synthesized a ternary polyaniline with acetylene black sulfur with a liquid phase, and it showed good performance, with an energy capacity of 600 mAh g ¹1 sulfur at 100 cycles with a 100 mA cm ¹2 current rate. 29 Various other approaches such as the electrolyte [30][31][32] and electrolyte salt 33 selected and electrode loading [34][35][36] have also been considered for their impact on lithium sulfur battery performance.…”

A simple approach to synthesize novel sulfur/graphene oxide/multiwalled carbon nanotube composite cathode for high performance lithium/sulfur batteries

“…Despite these advantages, sulfur confronts several problems, such as the intrinsic poor electronic conductivity of sulfur and high solubility of the intermediate products of its e l e c t r o c h e m i c a l r e a c t i o n w i t h l i t h i u m , t h e polysulfides, in liquid organic electrolytes, which causes rapid capacity loss upon repeated cycling and restricts practical application of Li-S batteries [4]. To overcome these critical issues, there have been tremendous efforts to find a host material, which would improve the electrical conductivity of the sulfur cathode and trap the soluble polysulfide intermediates [5][6][7][8][9]. For example, micro-/mesoporous carbon, carbon nanotubes, or graphene are considered as very promising conductive frameworks to composite with sulfur to form a desired structure for superior performance [10][11][12][13].…”