Moss-Derived Mesoporous Carbon as Bi-Functional Electrode Materials for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries and Supercapacitors

• Main Authors: Wen Lei, Haipeng Liu, Junlei Xiao, Yang Wang, Liangxu Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Nanomaterials
• Subjects: moss; biomass derived carbon; lithium–sulfur batteries; supercapacitors
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2079-4991/9/1/84

In this work, we reported a moss-derived biomass porous carbon (MPC) as a bi-functional electrode material for both the lithium–sulfur battery and the supercapacitor. The MPC was prepared from a high-temperature calcination procedure using the moss as the carbonaceous precursor. Using NaOH, the MPC was activated to give a mesoporous structure with a high specific surface area (1057.1 m2 g−1) and large pore volume (0.72 cm3 g−1). When it was used as the cathode material in lithium–sulfur batteries, the MPC material realized a sulfur loading and exhibited a remarkably improved electrochemical performance, i.e., a high discharge capacity of 1070 mAh g−1 at 0.1 C. This activated MPC also worked well as a capacitive electrode in supercapacitors, demonstrating a high specific capacitance of 332 F g−1 (scan rate of 1.0 A g−1) and a high capacity retention > 97% in a long-term cycle of 1000 charge/discharges. This work demonstrated a facile method for the utilization of activated waste biomass material for future clean energy applications.