Sulphur-Infiltrated 3D Porous Carbon Microsphere Nanoarchitecture for High Energy Lithium-Sulphur Batteries

Sulfur has received increasing attention as a cathode material for lithium-sulfur batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity of 1675 mAh g^-1, which is 5 times higher than that of conventional lithium-ion batteries. However, poor electronic conductivity of sulfur, dissolution of the lithium polysulfide intermediates and large volume expansion of sulfur during cycling limit the commercialization of Li-S batteries. Herein, we demonstrate the design of a smart-structured sulfur-infiltrated 3D multi-modal porous carbon microsphere to overcome these obstacles. This 3D multi-modal porous microsphere carbon (PMC) have large surface area, uniform pore size, high pore volume, and interconnected pore structure, that will ensure the access connection of the electrolyte through the PMC and uniformly loading for sulfur particles in the spaces within the 3D structure, thus limiting the volume expansion and dissolution of lithium polysulfide. Hence, a higher capacity, better cycling performance and stable Coulombic efficiency are expected. An initial capacity of  1289 mAh g^-1 at 1C and Coulombic efficiency of  90% over 200 cycles are achieved.