TY - JOUR
T1 - Scalable Approach To Construct Free-Standing and Flexible Carbon Networks for Lithium–Sulfur Battery
AU - Li, Mengliu
AU - Wahyudi, Wandi
AU - Kumar, Pushpendra
AU - Wu, Feng-Yu
AU - Yang, Xiulin
AU - Li, Henan
AU - Li, Lain-Jong
AU - Ming, Jun
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The research was supported by KAUST.
PY - 2017/2/27
Y1 - 2017/2/27
N2 - Reconstructing carbon nanomaterials (e.g., fullerene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and graphene) to multidimensional networks with hierarchical structure is a critical step in exploring their applications. Herein, a sacrificial template method by casting strategy is developed to prepare highly flexible and free-standing carbon film consisting of CNTs, graphene, or both. The scalable size, ultralight and binder-free characteristics, as well as the tunable process/property are promising for their large-scale applications, such as utilizing as interlayers in lithium-sulfur battery. The capability of holding polysulfides (i.e., suppressing the sulfur diffusion) for the networks made from CNTs, graphene, or their mixture is pronounced, among which CNTs are the best. The diffusion process of polysulfides can be visualized in a specially designed glass tube battery. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of discharged electrodes was performed to characterize the species in electrodes. A detailed analysis of lithium diffusion constant, electrochemical impedance, and elementary distribution of sulfur in electrodes has been performed to further illustrate the differences of different carbon interlayers for Li-S batteries. The proposed simple and enlargeable production of carbon-based networks may facilitate their applications in battery industry even as a flexible cathode directly. The versatile and reconstructive strategy is extendable to prepare other flexible films and/or membranes for wider applications.
AB - Reconstructing carbon nanomaterials (e.g., fullerene, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and graphene) to multidimensional networks with hierarchical structure is a critical step in exploring their applications. Herein, a sacrificial template method by casting strategy is developed to prepare highly flexible and free-standing carbon film consisting of CNTs, graphene, or both. The scalable size, ultralight and binder-free characteristics, as well as the tunable process/property are promising for their large-scale applications, such as utilizing as interlayers in lithium-sulfur battery. The capability of holding polysulfides (i.e., suppressing the sulfur diffusion) for the networks made from CNTs, graphene, or their mixture is pronounced, among which CNTs are the best. The diffusion process of polysulfides can be visualized in a specially designed glass tube battery. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of discharged electrodes was performed to characterize the species in electrodes. A detailed analysis of lithium diffusion constant, electrochemical impedance, and elementary distribution of sulfur in electrodes has been performed to further illustrate the differences of different carbon interlayers for Li-S batteries. The proposed simple and enlargeable production of carbon-based networks may facilitate their applications in battery industry even as a flexible cathode directly. The versatile and reconstructive strategy is extendable to prepare other flexible films and/or membranes for wider applications.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/623193
UR - http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsami.6b12546
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85014893017&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.6b12546
DO - 10.1021/acsami.6b12546
M3 - Article
C2 - 28221020
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 9
SP - 8047
EP - 8054
JO - ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
IS - 9
ER -