Porous carbon nanofibers prepared by low-cost and environmentally friendly ammonium chloride for high-performance Li–S batteries

Compared to conventional lithium batteries, lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries are not only low-cost and environmentally friendly but also have a high theoretical energy density. However, the insulating nature of sulfur materials and the poor cycle stability of Li–S batteries inhibit their commercialization. Herein, porous carbon nanofibers (PCNFs) were fabricated by a facile electrospinning method and used as a cathode hosting sulfur for Li–S batteries. The porous structure effectively restrained soluble polysulfides from migrating due to shuttle effect of lithium-sulfur batteries. With the PCNFs as the sulfur host, the PCNFs/S cathode exhibited excellent cycling stability. An initial specific capacity of 835 mAh g−1 at 0.1C and a reversible capacity of 98.6% after 100 cycles were achieved. This outstanding performance can be ascribed to the rational design of the electrode structure, which can increase the interfacial contact and provide a large number of electrochemically active sites for polysulfide storage.