Micro- and mesoporous carbide-derived carbon prepared by a sacrificial template method in high performance lithium sulfur battery cathodes

M. Oschatz; J. T. Lee; H. Kim; W. Nickel; L. Borchardt; W. I. Cho; C. Ziegler; S. Kaskel; G. Yushin

doi:10.1039/C4TA03327B

Micro- and mesoporous carbide-derived carbon prepared by a sacrificial template method in high performance lithium sulfur battery cathodes†

M. Oschatz,‡^a J. T. Lee,‡^b H. Kim,^b W. Nickel,^a L. Borchardt,§^c W. I. Cho,^d C. Ziegler,^e S. Kaskel*^a and G. Yushin*^b

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* Corresponding authors

^a TU Dresden, Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Bergstraße 66, D-01062 Dresden, Germany
E-mail: stefan.kaskel@chemie.tu-dresden.de

^b School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
E-mail: gleb.yushin@mse.gatech.edu

^c Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering, ETH Zürich, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 10, CH-8093 Zürich, Switzerland

^d Center for Energy Convergence Research/Green City Technology Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, PO Box 131, CheongRyang, Seoul 130-650, South Korea

^e TU Dresden, Department of Physical Chemistry, Bergstrasse 66b, D-01062 Dresden, Germany

Abstract

Polymer-based carbide-derived carbons (CDCs) with combined micro- and mesopores are prepared by an advantageous sacrificial templating approach using poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) spheres as the pore forming material. Resulting CDCs reveal uniform pore size and pore shape with a specific surface area of 2434 m² g⁻¹ and a total pore volume as high as 2.64 cm³ g⁻¹. The bimodal CDC material is a highly attractive host structure for the active material in lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery cathodes. It facilitates the utilization of high molarity electrolytes and therefore the cells exhibit good rate performance and stability. The cathodes in the 5 M lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) electrolyte show the highest discharge capacities (up to 1404 mA h g_s⁻¹) and capacity retention (72% after 50 cycles at C/5). The unique network structure of the carbon host enables uniform distribution of sulfur through the conductive media and at the same time it facilitates rapid access for the electrolyte to the active material.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C4TA03327B
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 30 Jun 2014
Accepted: 13 Aug 2014
First published: 21 Aug 2014
This article is Open Access

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J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014,2, 17649-17654

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Micro- and mesoporous carbide-derived carbon prepared by a sacrificial template method in high performance lithium sulfur battery cathodes

M. Oschatz, J. T. Lee, H. Kim, W. Nickel, L. Borchardt, W. I. Cho, C. Ziegler, S. Kaskel and G. Yushin, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2014, 2, 17649 DOI: 10.1039/C4TA03327B

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Micro- and mesoporous carbide-derived carbon prepared by a sacrificial template method in high performance lithium sulfur battery cathodes†

Abstract

Supplementary files

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Download Citation

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Micro- and mesoporous carbide-derived carbon prepared by a sacrificial template method in high performance lithium sulfur battery cathodes

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