A three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon network decorated with MnO2 nanoparticles (HPCM) as an efficient sulfur host for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs)

Abstract

This paper primarily reports a unique three-dimensional hierarchical porous carbon network structure decorated with MnO2 nanoparticles through a simple general method without involving any hard templates. Under its synergistic effect on the polysulfide physical entrapment and its strong chemical adsorption of manganese dioxide on polysulfides, the “shuttle effect” produced by polysulfides is reduced effectively and greatly. In addition, this structure could facilitate the infiltration of the electrolyte, shorten the ion transport path, improve the utilization of the active material, and thereby, exhibit remarkable electrochemical performance. The specific capacity of HPCM/S is still maintained at 665 mA h g−1 at a high rate of 1.0 C after 1000 cycles and the capacity decay is only 0.033% per cycle.