Modified separators coated with a Ca(OH) 2 –carbon framework derived from crab shells for lithium–sulfur batteries

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 4; no. 42; pp. 16627 - 16634
• Main Authors: Shao, Hongyuan, Huang, Bicheng, Liu, Naiqiang, Wang, Weikun, Zhang, Hao, Wang, Anbang, Wang, Feng, Huang, Yaqin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Carbon; Crabs; Decapoda; Energy density; Lithium; Lithium sulfur batteries; Performance enhancement; Polysulfides; Separators
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/c6ta06828f

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been considered as promising candidates for next-generation energy storage owing to the remarkably high theoretical specific capacity and energy density of sulfur. However, the shuttle effect of lithium polysulfides hampers their commercial application. Here, a Ca(OH)2-carbon framework derived from crab shells is successfully used to design a modified separator for Li-S batteries. Benefiting from the effective dispersal of Ca(OH)2 in the conductive carbon framework, the Ca(OH)2-carbon framework confers two benefits: first, it facilitates electron and ion transfer during redox reactions, and second, it efficiently traps the dissolved polysulfides. An enhanced Li-S performance is achieved by the utilization of a Ca(OH)2-carbon framework-modified separator, resulting in an initial capacity of 1215 mA h g-1 and a high reversible capacity of 873.5 mA h g-1 after 250 cycles at a rate of 0.5C. The results of this work show that Ca(OH)2-carbon frameworks derived from crab shells could be promising nanostructured materials to improve the performance of Li-S batteries.