Improved performance of dual-conducting polymer-coated sulfur composite with high sulfur utilization for lithium-sulfur batteries

Abstract This study is aimed at alleviating the inherent disadvantages of sulfur cathodes in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries by encapsulating the sulfur particles with a dual (ionic and electronic)-conducting polymer via a simple, single-step procedure. Successful encapsulation by the polymer was confirmed by microscopic analyses. The encapsulated sulfur electrodes exhibit stable cycling performance and high sulfur utilization; in particular, the cell with 1 wt% dual conducting polymer-coated sulfur particles exhibit the best cycle performance with a discharge capacity of 1002 mAh g −1 after 100 cycles at 0.2 C-rate. As opposed to various sulfur-carbon composites reported previously, our 1 wt% dual conducting polymer-coated sulfur composite achieves a very high loading level of 99%. This simple strategy of encapsulating sulfur particles with functional polymers could be a potential pathway toward the commercialization of Li-S batteries.