Porous Organic Polymers for Polysulfide Trapping in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

• Published in: Advanced functional materials 2018-09, Vol.28 (38), p.n/a
• Main Authors: Cheng, Zhibin, Pan, Hui, Zhong, Hong, Xiao, Zhubing, Li, Xiaoju, Wang, Ruihu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbon; Cathode region; Cost effectiveness; covalent organic frameworks; Electrochemical analysis; Electrode materials; Energy storage; Flux density; Innovations; Interlayers; Lithium; Lithium sulfur batteries; Materials science; Organic chemistry; Polymers; Polysulfides; porous organic polymers; Separators; shuttle effects; Storage batteries; Trapping
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201707597

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have attracted considerable attentions in electronic energy storage and conversion because of their high theoretical energy density and cost effectiveness. The rapid capacity degradation, mainly caused by the notorious shuttle effect of polysulfides (PSs), remains a great challenge preventing practical application. Porous organic polymers (POPs) are one type of promising carbon materials to confine PSs within the cathode region. Here, the research progress on POPs and POPs‐derived carbon materials in Li–S batteries is summarized, and the importance of pore surface chemistry in uniform distribution of sulfur and effective trapping of PSs is highlighted. POPs serve as promising sulfur host materials, interlayers, and separators in Li–S batteries. Their significance and innovation, especially new synthetic methods for promoting sulfur content, reversible capacity, Coulombic efficiency and cycling stability, have been demonstrated. The perspectives and critical challenges that need to be addressed for POPs‐based Li–S batteries are also discussed. Some attractive electrode materials and concepts based on POPs have been proposed to improve energy density and electrochemical performance, which are anticipated to shed some light on future development of POPs in advanced Li–S batteries. Porous organic polymers are one type of promising carbon materials to confine polysulfides (PSs) in the cathode region of lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries. They could serve as effective sulfur hosts, interlayers, and separators to improve sulfur utilization and suppress shuttle effect of PSs, which holds great promises for the development of advanced lithium–sulfur batteries with high energy density and long cycle life.