Carbon-based flexible self-supporting cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries:Progress and perspective

The flexible self-supporting electrode can maintain good mechanical and electrical properties while retaining high specific capacity,which meets the requirements of flexible batteries.Lithium-sulfur batteries(LSBs),as a new generation of energy storage system,hold much higher theoretical energy density than traditional batteries,and they have attracted extensive attention from both the academic and industrial communities.Selection of a proper substrate material is important for the flexible self-supporting electrode.Carbon materials,with the advantages of light weight,high conductivity,strong structural plasticity,and low cost,provide the electrode with a large loading space for the active material and a conductive network.This makes the carbon materials meet the mechanical and electrochemical requirements of flexible electrodes.In this paper,the commonly used fabrication methods and recent research progresses of the flexible self-supporting cathode with a carbon material as the substrate are introduced.Various sulfur loading methods are summarized,which provides useful information for the structural design of the cathode.As the first review article of the carbon-based flexible self-supporting LSB cathodes,it provides valuable guidance for the researchers working in the field of LSB.