Manufacturing N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan-reduced graphene oxide under freeze-dying for performance improvement of Li-S battery

Abstract Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries can provide far higher energy density than currently commercialized lithium ion batteries, but challenges remain before it they are used in practice. One of the is shuttle effect that originates from soluble intermediates, like polysulfides. To address this issue, we report a novel laminar composite, N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan-reduced graphene oxide (CC-rGO), which manufactured via self-assembly CC onto GO and subsequent reduction under an extreme condition 1 Pa −50 °C. The synthesized CC-rGO composite mixed with acetylene black (AB) coated on commercial polypropylene (PP) membrane, resulting separator (CC-rGO/AB/PP) not only completely suppress polysulfides penetration, also accelerate transportation, providing Li-S battery excellent cyclic stability rate capability. As confirmed by theoretic simulations, unique feature attributed to its strong repulsive interaction polysulfide anions benefit for fast transportation through paths paved heteroatoms CC.