Pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen-enriched carbon as a polysulfide blocker for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries

Abstract

Pyridinic and pyrrolic nitrogen-enriched carbon (CN_x) with a high content of 16.95 atm% was simply prepared as an interlayer in Li–S batteries. For largely improving the electrochemical performance, it retarded the shuttle effect of polysulfides by chemical (main) and physical interactions. As a result, the as-constructed Li–S batteries with CN_x still delivered a capacity of 730 mA h g⁻¹ after 500 cycles at 1C with nearly 100% coulombic efficiency. When the mass loading of sulfur increased to 5 mg cm⁻², the assembled Li–S battery also exhibited excellent electrochemical performance with a capacity of 4.57 mA h cm⁻² at 0.1C after 40 cycles.