A mechanochemical synthesis of submicron-sized Li2S and a mesoporous Li2S/C hybrid for high performance lithium/sulfur battery cathodes

Li, Xiang, Gao, Mingxia, Du, Wubin, Ni, Bo, Wu, Yuanhe, Liu, Yongfeng, Shang, Congxiao, Guo, Zhengxiao, Guo, Zhengxiao and Pan, Hongge (2017) A mechanochemical synthesis of submicron-sized Li2S and a mesoporous Li2S/C hybrid for high performance lithium/sulfur battery cathodes. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 5. pp. 6471-6482. ISSN 2050-7488

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Abstract

Lithium sulfide, Li2S, is a promising cathode material for lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs), with a high theoretical capacity of 1166 mA h g−1. However, it suffers from low cycling stability, low-rate capability and high initial activation potential. In addition, commercially available Li2S is of high cost and of large size, over ten microns, which further exacerbate its shortcomings as a sulfur cathode. Exploring new approaches to fabricate small-sized Li2S of low cost and to achieve Li2S cathodes of high electrochemical performance is highly desired. This work reports a novel mechanochemical method for synthesizing Li2S of high purity and submicron size by ball-milling LiH with sulfur in an Ar atmosphere at room temperature. By further milling the as-synthesized Li2S with polyacrylonitrile (PAN) followed by carbonization of PAN at 1000 °C, a Li2S/C hybrid with nano-sized Li2S embedded in a mesoporous carbon matrix is achieved. The hybrid with Li2S as high as 74 wt% shows a high initial capacity of 971 mA h g−1 at 0.1C and retains a capacity of 570 mA h g−1 after 200 cycles as a cathode material for LSBs. A capacity of 610 mA h g−1 is obtained at 1C. The synthesis method of Li2S is facile, environmentally benign, and of high output and low cost. The present work opens a new route for the scalable fabrication of submicron-sized Li2S and for the development of high performance Li2S-based cathodes.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Geosciences
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	17 May 2017 05:59
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2022 02:35
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63536
DOI:	10.1039/c7ta00557a

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