• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.2
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• pp.184-192
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• 2022

Porous NiO synthesized via hydrothermal synthesis was used in the electrodes of lithium-sulfur batteries to inhibit the elution of lithium polysulfide. The electrode of the lithium-sulfur battery was manufactured as a freestanding flexible electrode using an economical and simple vacuum filtration method without a current collector and a binder. The porous NiO-added S/CNT/NiO electrode exhibited a high initial discharge capacity of 877 mA h g^-1 (0.2 C), which was 125 mA h g^-1 higher than that of S/CNT, and also showed excellent retention of 84% (S/CNT: 66%). This is the result of suppressing the dissolution of lithium polysulfide into the electrolyte by the strong chemical bond between NiO and lithium polysulfide during the charging and discharging process. In addition, for the flexibility test of the S/CNT/NiO electrode, the 1.6 × 4 cm² pouch cell was prepared and exhibited stable cycle characteristics of 620 mA h g^-1 in both the unfolded and folded state.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.61 no.3
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• pp.426-438
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• 2023

Lithium-sulfur batteries, recently attracting attention as next-generation batteries, have high energy density but are limited in application due to sulfur's insulating properties, shuttle phenomenon, and volume expansion. This study used an economical and simple vacuum filtration method to prepare a freestanding electrode without a binder and collector. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are used to improve the electrical conductivity of sulfur, where CNT also acts as both collector and conductor. In addition, metal oxides (MO_x, M=Ni, Mg), which are easy to adsorb lithium polysulfide, are added to the CNT/S electrode to suppress the shuttle reaction in lithium-sulfur batteries, which is a result of suppressing the loss of active sulfur material due to the excellent adsorption of lithium polysulfide by metal oxides. The MO_x@CNT/S electrode exhibited higher capacity characteristics and cycle stability than the CNT/S electrode without metal oxides. Among the MO_x@CNT/S electrodes, the NiO@CNT/S electrode displayed a high discharge capacity of 780 mAh g^-1 at 1 C and an extreme capacity decrease to 134 mAh g^-1 after 200 cycles. Although the MgO@CNT/S electrode exhibited a low discharge rate of 544 mAh g^-1 in the initial cycle, it showed good cycle stability with 90% of capacity retention up to 200 cycles. Further, to achieve high capacity and cycle stability, the Ni_0.7Mg_0.3O@CNT/S electrode, mixed with Ni:Mg in the ratio of 0.7:0.3, manifested an initial discharge rate of 755 mAh g^-1 (1 C) and a capacity retention rate of more than 90% after 200 cycles. Therefore, applying binary metal oxides to CNT/S provides a freestanding electrode for developing economical and high-performance Li-S batteries, effectively improving lithium polysulfide's high capacity characteristics and dissolution.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.270-279
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• 2022

In this study, N/S co-doped carbon felt (N/S-CF) was prepared and characterized as an electrode material for electric double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). A commercial carbon felt (CF) was immersed in an aqueous solution of thiourea and then thermally treated at 800 ℃ under an inert atmosphere. The prepared N/S-CF showed a large specific surface area with hierarchical pore structures. The electrochemical performance of the N/S-CF-based electrode was evaluated using both 3-electrode and 2-electrode systems. In the 3-electrode system, the N/S-CF-based electrode showed a good specific capacitance of 177 F/g at 1 A/g and a good rate capability of 41% at 20 A/g. In the 2-electrode system (symmetric capacitor), the freestanding N/S-CF-based electrode showed a specific capacitance of 275 mF/cm² at 2 mA/cm², a rate capability of 62.5 % at 100 mA/cm², a specific power density of ~ 25,000 mW/cm² at an energy density of 23.9 mWh/cm², and a cycling stability of ~ 100 % at 100 mA/cm² after 20,000 cycles. These results indicate the N/S co-doped carbon felts can be a promising candidate as a new electrode material in a symmetric capacitor.