Macroporous Activated Carbon Derived from Rapeseed Shell for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur batteries have drawn considerable attention because of their extremely high energy density. Activated carbon (AC) is an ideal matrix for sulfur because of its high specific surface area, large pore volume, small-size nanopores, and simple preparation. In this work, through KOH activation, AC materials with different porous structure parameters were prepared using waste rapeseed shells as precursors. Effects of KOH amount, activated temperature, and activated time on pore structure parameters of ACs were studied. AC sample with optimal pore structure parameters was investigated as sulfur host materials. Applied in lithium-sulfur batteries, the AC/S composite (60 wt % sulfur) exhibited a high specific capacity of 1065 mAh g −1 at 200 mA g −1 and a good capacity retention of 49% after 1000 cycles at 1600 mA g −1 . The key factor for good cycling stability involves the restraining effect of small-sized nanopores of the AC framework on the diffusion of polysulfides to bulk electrolyte and the loss of the active material sulfur. Results demonstrated that AC materials derived from rapeseed shells are promising materials for sulfur loading.

Granular Activated Carbon from Grape Seeds Hydrothermal Char

“…The production of activated carbon from biomass residues is getting popular recently due to the abundant availability of such feedstock and its very low cost. Almost all sorts of biomass waste have been investigated as activated carbon precursors, such as wood [6], seeds [2,7], shells [8][9][10], stones [11,12], straw [13], husk or hulls [6,13,14], sawdust [14], and even ashes [15][16][17]. However, not every substrate can be considered as a potential candidate for activated carbon production.…”

Polyimide-Coated Glass Microfiber as Polysulfide Perm-Selective Separator for High-Performance Lithium-Sulphur Batteries

“…The latter is mainly attributed to the adsorbed polysulfide in PI-GF-0.5. Given that sublimation of elemental sulphur occurs mainly at < 300 °C, high evaporation temperature suggests that polysulfides bind strongly to PI-GF-0.5 [51]. EDS mapping and quantification results reveal that sulphur species were indeed well-distributed in the separator samples after DME washing.…”

Sustainable Battery Materials from Biomass

“…Similarly, all kinds of biowaste have been carbonized and used as host materials in the cathodes of lithium–sulfur, lithium–selenium, or lithium–oxygen batteries. Within recent years, for example, carbons made from waste materials such as fruit stones or peels, algae, nutshells, soybean hulls, grain waste, other plant waste, saw dust, and lignin have been described in this regard.…”