Fabrication and electrochemical applications of the Co-embedded N&P-codoped hierarchical porous carbon host from yeast for Li-S batteries

Abstract Many challenges stand in the way of the potential of Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries, especially low conductivity and obvious shuttle effect. Among biomass materials, yeast is an ideal and natural precursor which is used to synthesize carbon materials. A novel method was deliberately developed to fabricate the Co-embedded N&P-codoped hierarchical porous yeast-based carbon (Co-YC) for Li-S batteries. Firstly, yeasts immersed by aqueous solution containing CoCl2 and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDS) were freeze-dried, and then were pyrolyzed at 973 K for 3 h under the protection of argon. The as-prepared Co-YC materials with higher specific surface area (216.94 m2 g−1) were finally used to load sulfur, suggesting that the meso/macroporous structure is helpful to avoiding the accumulation of sulfur on the surface of the materials. Subsequently the electrode equipped by Co-YC/S with a superior cycling stability and rate performance than YC/S has been successfully prepared. The obtained Co-YC/S electrode exhibited a better electrochemical performance, its discharge capacity reached 1462 mAh g−1 at a rate of 0.1 C, and after 300 cycles, the stable reversible capacity was of 1010.8 mAh g−1 at 0.2 C. The experimental results show that Co-YC/S can be a potential candidate for electrode material applied in Li-S batteries.