| Polar Mesoporous Carbon-Coated Hybrid Separator Enabling Reversible Anchoring of Polysulfides in Li-S Cells |
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Je Yeon Kim1, Hye Ran Kim1, Meiying Pei2, Sun Hyu Kim1, Seok Kim2, Yongju Jung1 |
1Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Korea University of Technology and Education (KOREATECH), Cheonan, 31253, Korea
2School of Chemical Engineering, Pusan National University, Geumjeong-gu, Busan 46241, Republic of Korea |
Correspondence:
Yongju Jung,
Email: yjung@koreatech.ac.kr
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Received: 22 August 2025 • Accepted: 18 September 2025 |
| Abstract |
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Despite tremendous efforts to develop lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries as next-generation energy-storage systems, their commercialization has been hindered by critical challenges such as the polysulfide shuttle effect and poor cycling stability. In this study, polar mesoporous carbon (p-MC) featuring abundant polar functional groups and high porosity is synthesized via pyrolysis at 400 ℃, and a functional hybrid separator is then fabricated by uniformly coating p-MC onto the surface of a polyethylene (PE) membrane to mitigate polysulfide diffusion toward the lithium anode. A Li-S cell incorporating p-MC-coated PE separator (p-MC/PE) is systematically compared with two control cells: one employing a conventional PE separator and the other utilizing a nonpolar mesoporous carbon-coated separator (n-MC/PE). Remarkably, the p-MC/PE cell exhibits twice the capacity retention, enhanced rate capability, and reduced self-discharge after 300 cycles compared with the control PE cell. In addition, the p-MC/PE cell retains 83.1% of its initial capacity after 300 cycles, significantly outperforming the n-MC/PE cell. The exceptional performance of the p-MC/PE separator is attributed to the strong polar-polar interactions between the lithium polysulfides and functional groups on the p-MC surface. The synergy between polar functional groups and well-interconnected mesopores facilitates the capture of polysulfides through both chemical interactions and physical confinement. |
| Keywords:
Polar mesoporous carbon, Functional hybrid separator, Chemical interaction, Polysulfides, Lithium-sulfur batteries |
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