An Alternative Approach to Enhance the Performance of High Sulfur-Loading Electrodes for Li–S Batteries

Abstract

Due to lithium–sulfur battery’s high theoretical capacity and energy density, Li–S has been considered as a promising candidate for next-generation Li batteries. Despite this, Li–S batteries suffer from poor electrical conductivity and the shuttle effect, which result in loss of active material and active material loading limitation, thus hindering the practical application of Li–S. This Letter introduces the modified high sulfur-loading electrode (MHSE) with a loading of 10 mg cm–2 which directly addresses these two drawbacks and employs a simple production process suitable for mass production through the use of elemental sulfur. The MHSE consists of three distinct components which provide additional conductivity, mechanical support, and polysulfide adsorption ability on each level to enhance electrochemical performance. The electrode manifested an initial discharge capacity of 1332 mAh g–1 with a 91% cycle retention at the end of 50 cycles and cycled with stability from 0.1C to 2C during rate capability testing.