High performance lithium-sulfur batteries by facilely coating a conductive carbon nanotube or graphene layer

Lithium sulfur (Li-S) batteries are regarded as promising candidates for next-generation rechargeable batteries. However, the insulation characteristic of sulfur and severe polysulfide dissolution hindered their development. We presented a facile approach to fabricate Li-S batteries by coating commercial carbon nanotube or graphene slurries on normal sulfur cathode electrode to construct a dual-layer cathode electrode. The conductive CNT or graphene layer could not only improve the conductivity of sulfur cathode, but also suppress the polysulfide diffusion. The CNT@S cathode delivered a high reversible capacity of 740 mAh/g over 300 cycles at 1 C and 870 mAh/g over 100 cycles at 0.2 C. Furthermore, this strategy could be realized on the commercial product line of lithium-ion batteries, which made it possible to large-scale produce Li-S batteries. (C) 2018 Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.