Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs)-Derived Nitrogen-Doped Porous Carbon Anchored on Graphene with Multifunctional Effects for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are highly appealing for next-generation electrochemical energy storage owing to their high theoretical energy density, environmental friendliness, and low cost. However, the insulating nature of sulfur and migration of dissolved polysulfide intermediates lead to low active material utilization and fast capacity decay, which pose a significant challenge to their practical applications. Here, this paper reports a multifunctional carbon hybrid with metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived nitrogen-doped porous carbon anchored on graphene sheets (NPC/G) serving as a sulfur host. On the one hand, the high surface area and nitrogen-doping of the carbon nanoparticles enable effective polysulfide immobilization through both physical confinement and chemical adsorption; on the other hand, the highly conductive graphene provides an interconnected conductive framework to facilitate fast electron transport, improving the sulfur utilization. As a result, the NPC/G-based sulfur cathode exhibits a high specific capacity of 1372 mAh g(-1) with good cycling stability over 300 cycles. This approach provides a promising approach for the design of MOFs-derived carbon materials for high performance Li-S batteries.