Nitrogen-doped porous graphene/MnO2 composite as sulfur hosts for lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur batteries have been considered as a promising chemical power source owing to the low costs, high energy densities, and nontoxicity. However, sulfur-based cathodes have several shortcomings, including poor electrochemical activity and fast capacity attenuation. In this work, manganese dioxide (MnO2) and nitrogen doped porous graphene (pNGA) were introduced to the sulfur cathode to improve its electrochemical activity and prevent the rapid decay of capacity. The pNGA/MnO2 composite with a three-dimensional architecture was fabricated by steam etching of nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel and chemical deposition of MnO2 nanoparticles. In this structure, the nitrogen-doped porous graphene acts as a skeleton to form a conductive network. The MnO2 particles anchored on graphene sheets have a good interaction with polysulfides. The as-prepared pNGA/ MnO2@S cathode shows an excellent comprehensive electrochemical performance. The calculated specific capacities are 1144, 1007, 920, 852, and 762 mA h g(-1) at 0.1C, 0.2C, 0.5C, 1C, and 2C respectively. In addition, the pNGA/MnO2@S cathode displays a good cycling performance: the specific capacity maintains at 887 mA h g(-1) at 0.5C over 100 cycles.

Automated summary

This study improved the electrochemical activity of the sulfur cathode by introducing manganese dioxide and nitrogen-doped porous graphene, preventing rapid capacity decay. The prepared pNGA/MnO2@S cathode showed excellent comprehensive electrochemical performance with high specific capacities and good cycling stability.