Implanting Niobium Carbide into Trichoderma Spore Carbon: a New Advanced Host for Sulfur Cathodes

Abstract

To meet the growing demand of sophisticated modern electronics and electric vehicles, it is critical to develop advanced battery systems with large energy density. [1][2][3][4] Accordingly, lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) have becoming the research Tailored construction of advanced carbon hosts is playing a great role in the development of high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). Herein, a novel N,P-codoped trichoderma spore carbon (TSC) with a bowl structure, prepared by a "trichoderma bioreactor" and annealing process is reported. Moreover, TSC shows excellent compatibility with conductive niobium carbide (NbC), which is in situ implanted into the TSC matrix in the form of nanoparticles forming a highly porous TSC/NbC host. Importantly, NbC plays a dual role in TSC for not only pore formation but also enhancement of conductivity. Excitingly, the sulfur can be well accommodated in the TSC/ NbC host forming a high-performance TSC/NbC-S cathode, which exhibits greatly enhanced rate performance (810 mAh g −1 at 5 C) and long cycling life (937.9 mAh g −1 at 0.1 C after 500 cycles), superior to TSC-S and other carbon/S counterparts due to the larger porosity, higher conductivity, and better synergetic trapping effect for the soluble polysulfide intermediate. The synergetic work of porous the conductive architecture, heterodoped N&P polar sites in TSC and polar conductive NbC provides new opportunities for enhancing physisorption and chemisorption of polysulfides leading to higher capacity and better rate capability.

Bacterium, Fungus, and Virus Microorganisms for Energy Storage and Conversion

“…Similar to the bacteria microorganisms, fungi can be carbonized to heteroatom‐doped carbon materials, which can be utilized as the active or support materials for electrodes. In this section, we will review the typical fungi (e.g., A. Niger , Aspergillus flavus , Trichoderma viride , Neurospora crassa , yeast, Portobello mushroom (PM), Bamboo fungus) and their carbonization derivatives to illustrate the potential in the energy‐related fields, including lithium‐ion batteries, lithium–sulfur batteries, and oxygen reduction reaction.…”

“…e) Rate performance, f) cycling performance, and Coulombic efficiency of TSC‐S and TSC/NbC‐S electrodes. (d–f) Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2019, Wiley‐VCH.…”

Coupled Biphase (1T‐2H)‐MoSe2 on Mold Spore Carbon for Advanced Hydrogen Evolution Reaction

“…Simultaneously, nanostructure engineering is essential for MoSe 2 due to the fact that the bulk MoSe 2 has a small number of active edge sites and poor electron transportation . Meanwhile, phase modulation engineering must be taken on nanostructured MoSe 2 to boost HER performance.…”

Biological Metabolism Synthesis of Metal Oxides Nanorods from Bacteria as a Biofactory toward High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Battery Anodes

“…The SEI layer formed on the surface of biometabolic α‐Fe 2 O 3 electrode consumes part of electrolyte during the initial cycles. Meanwhile, biometabolic α‐Fe 2 O 3 nanorods are fragmented into small pieces because of the conversion reaction mechanism, leading to generate fresh interfaces and form new SEI layers . Therefore, this activation process will not only cause the concentration change in electrolyte, but also enlarge the surface reaction resistance at the electrode/electrolyte interface.…”