Graphitic carbon nitride as polysulfide anchor and barrier for improved lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

The poor conductivity of sulfur and the shuttle effect of soluble polysulfides have considerably hindered the practical application of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. Here, we have fabricated a three-dimensional graphitic carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide (GCN@rGO) network as the sulfur host in Li–S batteries, where the bifunctional GCN strongly binds polysulfides through a chemical interaction and catalyzes the redox reactions of polysulfides. Additionally, GCN coating is also applied to different membranes and when these GCN-coated-membranes (GCMs) are used as separators, they are found to effectively act as the polysulfide barrier to suppress the diffusion of polysulfide intermediates to the Li anode and thus ameliorate the shuttle effect. As a result, the Li–S battery assembled from the GCN@rGO/S cathode and GCM separator exhibited a high initial specific capacity of 1000.6 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C and 87% capacity retention with 0.066% decay per cycle over 200 charge−discharge cycles at 0.5 C.