A Hierarchical Three-Dimensional Porous Laser-Scribed Graphene Film for Suppressing Polysulfide Shuttling in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Abstract

The lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is a promising next-generation rechargeable battery with high energy density. Given the outstanding capacities of sulfur (1675 mAh g-1) and lithium metal (3861 mAh g-1), Li-S battery theoretically delivers an ultrahigh energy density of 2567 Wh kg-1. However, this energy density cannot be realized due to several factors, particularly the shuttling of polysulfide intermediates between the cathode and anode, which causes serious degradation of capacity and cycling stability of a Li-S battery. In this work, a simple and scalable route was employed to construct a freestanding laser-scribed graphene (LSG) interlayer that effectively suppresses the polysulfide shuttling in Li-S batteries. Thus, a high specific capacity (1160 mAh g-1) with excellent cycling stability (80.4% capacity retention after 100 cycles) has been achieved due to the unique structure of hierarchical three-dimensional pores in the freestanding LSG.