TY - JOUR
T1 - Binding mechanism of sulfur and dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile in sulfur/polymer composite cathode
AU - Doan, The Nam Long
AU - Ghaznavi, Mahmoudreza
AU - Zhao, Yan
AU - Zhang, Yongguang
AU - Konarov, Aishuak
AU - Sadhu, Mikhail
AU - Tangirala, Ravichandra
AU - Chen, P.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was financially supported by Positec , Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) , Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program. The authors would like to thank Dr. J. Byerley for assistance in editing the manuscript.
PY - 2013/5/27
Y1 - 2013/5/27
N2 - A composite consisting of sulfur/dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile is one of the most promising cathode materials for use in rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries. However, the reported sulfur contents have been low, less than 50 wt%, which compromise the intrinsic high specific capacity and energy of elemental sulfur and hence decrease significantly the specific energy of the composite. To identify the potential to further increase the sulfur content, we elucidate the binding mechanism of sulfur and polyacrylonitrile in their composite. The heat treatment experiments at varying timespans with excess sulfur showed a constancy of sulfur content after a critical length of timespan, indicating the saturation of sulfur in the structure of dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile. Based on molecular structure and size consideration, it is proposed that the binding involves the formation of an 8 membered ring of sulfur embedded between 4 heterocyclic rings of dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile. From this model and experimental results, we show that there exists an upper limit of sulfur content in the sulfur/dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile composite at 56 wt%.
AB - A composite consisting of sulfur/dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile is one of the most promising cathode materials for use in rechargeable lithium-sulfur batteries. However, the reported sulfur contents have been low, less than 50 wt%, which compromise the intrinsic high specific capacity and energy of elemental sulfur and hence decrease significantly the specific energy of the composite. To identify the potential to further increase the sulfur content, we elucidate the binding mechanism of sulfur and polyacrylonitrile in their composite. The heat treatment experiments at varying timespans with excess sulfur showed a constancy of sulfur content after a critical length of timespan, indicating the saturation of sulfur in the structure of dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile. Based on molecular structure and size consideration, it is proposed that the binding involves the formation of an 8 membered ring of sulfur embedded between 4 heterocyclic rings of dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile. From this model and experimental results, we show that there exists an upper limit of sulfur content in the sulfur/dehydrogenated polyacrylonitrile composite at 56 wt%.
KW - Cathode
KW - Composite
KW - Lithium-sulfur battery
KW - Polyacrylonitrile
KW - Sulfur content
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.04.113
DO - 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2013.04.113
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84877969644
SN - 0378-7753
VL - 241
SP - 61
EP - 69
JO - Journal of Power Sources
JF - Journal of Power Sources
ER -
