TY - JOUR
T1 - Electrospun-cellulose derived free-standing carbon nanofibers as lightweight, ultrathin, and stackable interlayers for lithium-sulfur batteries
AU - Park, Dongjoo
AU - Park, Sangbaek
AU - Kim, Dong Wan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (2019R1A2B5B02070203), South Korea, by Creative Materials Discovery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by Ministry of Science and ICT (2018M3D1A1058744), South Korea.
Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT ( 2019R1A2B5B02070203 ), South Korea, by Creative Materials Discovery Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by Ministry of Science and ICT ( 2018M3D1A1058744 ), South Korea.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2021/2/1
Y1 - 2021/2/1
N2 - The insertion of an interlayer between the separator and cathode is considered a promising strategy to improve the conductivity as well as suppress the polysulfide shuttling effect in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). However, the fundamental disadvantages of loss in weight/volume capacity and high cost upon the addition of an interlayer brings significant challenges. Herein, we report free-standing carbon nanofibers based on electrospun-cellulose (ACCF) as a lightweight (0.38 mg cm−2) and ultrathin (10 μm) interlayer for LSBs. The unique semi-carbonization of cellulose precursors provides a large surface area (2665.2 m2 g−1) and high conductivity (6.5 S cm−1) to overcome the conductivity–surface area trade-off in conventional interlayers. Interestingly, the high wettability of ACCF is induced by the functional groups in cellulose, which decreases the electrolyte demand and enables the material to be stacked into multiple layers. This allows a conceptual study providing the scientific clue for the critical material factor in the LSB interlayer. Benefitting from its multi-functional characteristics, ACCF-modified cell provides a high specific capacity of 1403 mA h g−1 and a remarkable areal capacity 4.83 mA h cm−2 (S loading 4.6 mg cm−2) at 0.1C. Therefore, this innovative, cheap, and scalable ACCF can be used as a practical interlayer toward the commercialization of high-energy LSBs.
AB - The insertion of an interlayer between the separator and cathode is considered a promising strategy to improve the conductivity as well as suppress the polysulfide shuttling effect in lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs). However, the fundamental disadvantages of loss in weight/volume capacity and high cost upon the addition of an interlayer brings significant challenges. Herein, we report free-standing carbon nanofibers based on electrospun-cellulose (ACCF) as a lightweight (0.38 mg cm−2) and ultrathin (10 μm) interlayer for LSBs. The unique semi-carbonization of cellulose precursors provides a large surface area (2665.2 m2 g−1) and high conductivity (6.5 S cm−1) to overcome the conductivity–surface area trade-off in conventional interlayers. Interestingly, the high wettability of ACCF is induced by the functional groups in cellulose, which decreases the electrolyte demand and enables the material to be stacked into multiple layers. This allows a conceptual study providing the scientific clue for the critical material factor in the LSB interlayer. Benefitting from its multi-functional characteristics, ACCF-modified cell provides a high specific capacity of 1403 mA h g−1 and a remarkable areal capacity 4.83 mA h cm−2 (S loading 4.6 mg cm−2) at 0.1C. Therefore, this innovative, cheap, and scalable ACCF can be used as a practical interlayer toward the commercialization of high-energy LSBs.
KW - Cellulose
KW - Electrospinning
KW - Free-standing
KW - Interlayer
KW - Lithium-sulfur batteries
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089430811&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2020.126596
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2020.126596
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85089430811
VL - 405
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
SN - 1385-8947
M1 - 126596
ER -