Co₃O₄-Carbon Cloth free standing cathode for lithium sulfur battery

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery has been considered to be one of the most promising next-generation electrochemical energy-storage systems due to its high theoretical energy of 2600 Wh kg^-1 with low cost. The insulating nature of both sulfur and the dissolution of polysulfides are the two primary challenges for the application of lithium sulfur batteries. Here, we developed a binder-free cathode by chemisorption of Co₃O₄ to carbon cloth (CC), which was used as a 3D current collector to accommodate a large amount of sulfur, multiwall carbon nanofiber (MWCNF) and carbon black (CB) hybrids within the conductive scaffold, enabling the fabrication of ultrahigh sulfur loaded electrodes. The interconnected carbon fibers established a long-range conductive matrix for an efficient electron transport, the multiple conductive pathways guarantee high sulfur utilization. More importantly, the high electrolyte absorbability of the Co₃O₄-CC-S current collector facilitates well-localized polysulfides within the Co₃O₄-CC-S, meanwhile, the polar Co₃O₄ could also effectively entrapped the intermediated polysulfides preventing their free diffusion to the lithium anode, guaranteeing good cycling stability. Consequently, the Co₃O₄-CC-S electrodes exhibit excellent electrochemical performance with sulfur loading of 4.3 mg cm^-2. (paper)