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Research Article

Boron-doped microporous nano carbon as cathode material for high-performance Li-S batteries

Feng Wu1,2,§, Ji Qian1,§, Weiping Wu3, Yusheng Ye1, Zhiguo Sun1, Bin Xu4, Xiaoguang Yang5, Yuhong Xu6, Jiatao Zhang7, Renjie Chen1,2( )
Beijing Key Laboratory of Environmental Science and EngineeringSchool of Material Science and EngineeringBeijing Institute of TechnologyBeijing100081China
Collaborative Innovation Center of Electric Vehicles in BeijingBeijing100081China
School of Computer Science, Mathematics and EngineeringCity, University of London, Northampton Square, LondonEC1V 0HBUK
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource EngineeringBeijing Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Process and Technology for MaterialsBeijing University of Chemical TechnologyBeijing100029China
Research and Advanced EngineeringFord Motor CompanyDearbornMI48121USA
Electrified Powertrain EngineeringFord Motor Research and Engineering (Nanjing) Co.Ltd.Nanjing211100China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Construction-Tailorable Advanced Functional Materials and Green ApplicationsSchool of Material Science and EngineeringBeijing Institute of TechnologyBeijing100081China

§ These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Graphical Abstract

Abstract

In this study, a boron-doped microporous carbon (BMC)/sulfur nanocomposite is synthesized and applied as a novel cathode material for advanced Li-S batteries. The cell with this cathode exhibits an ultrahigh cycling stability and rate capability. After activation, a capacity of 749.5 mAh/g was obtained on the 54th cycle at a discharge current of 3.2 A/g. After 500 cycles, capacity of 561.8 mAh/g remained (74.96% retention), with only a very small average capacity decay of 0.056%. The excellent reversibility and stability of the novel sulfur cathode can be attributed to the ability of the boron-doped microporous carbon host to both physically confine polysulfides and chemically bind these species on the host surface. Theoretical calculations confirm that boron-doped carbon is capable of significantly stronger interactions with the polysulfide species than undoped carbon, most likely as a result of the lower electronegativity of boron. We believe that this doping strategy can be extended to other metal-air batteries and fuel cells, and that it has promising potential for many different applications.

Keywords

boron-dopingmicroporous carbonbinding energyLi-S batteries

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Nano Research
Volume 10 Issue 2,
February 2017
Pages 426-436
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-016-1303-7
Cite this article:
Wu F, Qian J, Wu W, et al. Boron-doped microporous nano carbon as cathode material for high-performance Li-S batteries. Nano Research, 2017, 10(2): 426-436. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1303-7

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Received: 30 July 2016
Revised: 15 September 2016
Accepted: 27 September 2016
Published: 07 November 2016
© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016
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