Tailoring porosity in carbon nanospheres for lithium-sulfur battery cathodes.

Porous hollow carbon spheres with different tailored pore structures have been designed as conducting frameworks for lithium-sulfur battery cathode materials that exhibit stable cycling capacity. By deliberately creating shell porosity and utilizing the interior void volume of the carbon spheres, sufficient space for sulfur storage as well as electrolyte pathways is guaranteed. The effect of different approaches to develop shell porosity is examined and compared in this study.

New approaches for high energy density lithium-sulfur battery cathodes.

The goal of replacing combustion engines or reducing their use presents a daunting problem for society. Current lithium-ion technologies provide a stepping stone for this dramatic but inevitable change. However, the theoretical gravimetric capacity (∼300 mA h g(-1)) is too low to overcome the problems of limited range in electric vehicles, and their cost is too high to sustain the commercial viability of electrified transportation.

Graphene-enveloped sulfur in a one pot reaction: a cathode with good coulombic efficiency and high practical sulfur content.

Graphene-sulfur composites with sulfur fractions as high as 87 wt% are prepared using a simple one-pot, scalable method. The graphene envelops the sulfur particles, providing a conductive shrink-wrap for electron transport. These materials are efficient cathodes for Li-S batteries, yielding 93% coulombic efficiency over 50 cycles with good capacity.

Stabilizing lithium-sulphur cathodes using polysulphide reservoirs.

The possibility of achieving high-energy, long-life storage batteries has tremendous scientific and technological significance. An example is the Li-S cell, which can offer a 3-5-fold increase in energy density compared with conventional Li-ion cells, at lower cost. Despite significant advances, there are challenges to its wide-scale implementation, which include dissolution of intermediate polysulphide reaction species into the electrolyte.

Agitation induced loading of sulfur into carbon CMK-3 nanotubes: efficient scavenging of noble metals from aqueous solution.

Solid sulfur was completely infiltrated into the channels of mesoporous carbon nanorods in an aqueous medium at room temperature by vigorous stirring. The C-S nanocomposite exhibits ultra-fast Pt sorption, even in extremely dilute solutions.