Humic Acid-Derived Mesoporous Carbon as Cathode Component for Lithium-Sulfur Battery

Ordered mesoporous carbon has successfully been synthesized using SBA-15 silica as the hard template and, for the first time, humic acids as the carbon source. The obtained carbonaceous material features hexagonally ordered pores with an average diameter of 7.6 nm and a high specific surface area of 670 m(2)g(-1). The synthesized carbon has been applied as the sulfur cathode component in Li-S cells. At 20% content in the composite cathode and no auxiliary conducting additives, the material resulted in significantly advantageous specific capacities over conventional carbon black and commercial mesoporous carbon CMK-3 (up to 1200 mAhg(-1)) as well as improved cycling stability and rate capability. The effect has been attributed to a favorable morphology and porous structure of the humic acids-derived carbon.