Porous Activated Carbons Derived from Coffee Waste for Use as Functional Separators in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 15; no. 21; p. 7961
• Main Authors: Shin, Jae-Hoon, Park, Yu-Yeon, Moon, Sang-Hyun, Kim, Ji-Hwan, Jang, Jae-Sung, Kim, Sung-Beom, Lee, Seong-Nam, Park, Kyung-Won
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Adsorption; Agricultural wastes; By-products; Carbon dioxide; Carbon sources; Carbon, Activated; Cathodes; Coffee; Coffee processing; coffee waste; Decomposition; Design and construction; Electrolytes; Graphene; Interlayers; Lithium; Lithium cells; Lithium sulfur batteries; Materials; physical adsorption; Potassium; Potassium hydroxide; Potassium hydroxides; separator; Separators; shuttle effect; Spectrum analysis; Sulfur; Surface area; Waste management; South Korea; United States > US; Japan; Germany
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en15217961

A novel approach has been proposed for improving the performance of lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) with a carbon-based material as an interlayer between the cathode and separator. With this method, the cross-over of lithium polysulfides (LiPS) to the anode is suppressed, increasing reutilization of the sulfur cathode. In this study, activated carbons (ACs) were prepared using coffee waste as a carbon source and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as an activation agent at various reaction temperatures ranging from 500 to 800 °C. With the rise in heating temperature, the specific surface areas, micro-surface areas, and micro-pore volumes of the AC samples gradually increased. In particular, the AC sample prepared at 800 °C and used as a functional separator for LSB exhibited improved capacity and cycling performance while suppressing the LiPS shuttle effect.