Natural Integrated Carbon Architecture for Rechargeable Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Natural integrated carbon architecture cathodes without any additives, which were derived from the bark of plane trees, have highly loaded sulfur of 3.2-4.2 mg cm(-2). The as-obtained carbon slice has an integrated architecture with micropore-to-macrospore distribution and a large surface area of 528 m(2) g(-1). As a result, the integrated carbon-sulfur cathode exhibited an initial discharge capacity of 1159 mA h g(-1) at 0.2 A g(-1) for a lithium-sulfur battery. Even after 60 cycles, a high specific capacity of 608 mA h g(-1) with a high Coulombic efficiency (>98%) was retained, much better than MWCNTs-based electrodes and macropore-destroyed carbon slices.