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Shafique A, Rangasamy VS, Vanhulsel A, Safari M, Gross S, Adriaensens P, Van Bael MK, Hardy A, Sallard S. Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) Plasma Coating of Sulfur for Mitigation of Capacity Fade in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2021; 13:28072-28089. [PMID: 34100584 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c04069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Sulfur particles with a conductive polymer coating of poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene) "PEDOT" were prepared by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma technology under atmospheric conditions (low temperature, ambient pressure). We report a solvent-free, low-cost, low-energy-consumption, safe, and low-risk process to make the material development and production compatible for sustainable technologies. Different coating protocols were developed to produce PEDOT-coated sulfur powders with electrical conductivity in the range of 10-8-10-5 S/cm. The raw sulfur powder (used as the reference) and (low-, optimum-, high-) PEDOT-coated sulfur powders were used to assemble lithium-sulfur (Li-S) cells with a high sulfur loading of ∼4.5 mg/cm2. Long-term galvanostatic cycling at C/10 for 100 cycles showed that the capacity fade was mitigated by ∼30% for the cells containing the optimum-PEDOT-coated sulfur in comparison to the reference Li-S cells with raw sulfur. Rate capability, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance analyzes confirmed the improved behavior of the PEDOT-coated sulfur as an active material for lithium-sulfur batteries. The Li-S cells containing optimum-PEDOT-coated sulfur showed the highest reproducibility of their electrochemical properties. A wide variety of bulk and surface characterization methods including conductivity analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and NMR spectroscopy were used to explain the chemical features and the superior behavior of Li-S cells using the optimum-PEDOT-coated sulfur material. Moreover, postmortem [SEM and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET)] analyzes of uncoated and coated samples allowed us to exclude any significant effect at the electrode scale even after 70 cycles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ahmed Shafique
- Sustainable Materials, VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
- Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, B 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
| | - Vijay Shankar Rangasamy
- Sustainable Materials, VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
| | - Annick Vanhulsel
- Sustainable Materials, VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
| | - Mohammadhosein Safari
- Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, B 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
- Imec vzw, div. imomec, Wetenschapspark 1, B 2590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
| | - Silvia Gross
- Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padua, via Marzolo, 1, 35131 Padova, PD, Italy
| | - Peter Adriaensens
- Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, B 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
- Imec vzw, div. imomec, Wetenschapspark 1, B 2590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Marlies K Van Bael
- Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, B 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
- Imec vzw, div. imomec, Wetenschapspark 1, B 2590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
| | - An Hardy
- Institute for Materials Research (imo-imomec), Hasselt University, Martelarenlaan 42, B 3500 Hasselt, Belgium
- Imec vzw, div. imomec, Wetenschapspark 1, B 2590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
| | - Sébastien Sallard
- Sustainable Materials, VITO (Flemish Institute for Technological Research), Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol, Belgium
- Energyville, Thor Park 8320, B-3600 Genk, Belgium
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Preparation and Characterization of Montmorillonite/PEDOT-PSS and Diatomite/PEDOT-PSS Hybrid Materials. Study of Electrochemical Properties in Acid Medium. JOURNAL OF COMPOSITES SCIENCE 2020. [DOI: 10.3390/jcs4020051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
The hybridization of clay minerals with conducting polymers receives great interest for different potential applications, including environmental remediation. This work studies and compares the electrochemical properties of two different clays, montmorillonite (Mont) and diatomite (Diat), and their respective clay/PEDOT-PSS hybrid materials in H2SO4 medium. The hybrid materials were prepared by electropolymerization of EDOT in the presence of PSS. The physico-chemical and electrochemical properties of both clays were analyzed by different techniques, and the influence of the clay properties on electropolymerization and the electroactivity of the resulting clay/PEDOT-PSS hybrids was investigated. Specifically, the Fe2+/Fe3+ redox probe and the oxidation of diclofenac, as a model pharmaceutical emerging pollutant, were used to test the electron transfer capability and oxidative response, respectively, of the clay/PEDOT-PSS hybrids. The results demonstrate that, despite its low electrical conductivity, the Mont is an electroactive material itself with good electron-transfer capability. Conversely, the Diat shows no electroactivity. The hybridization with PEDOT generally enhances the electroactivity of the clays, but the clay properties affect the electropolymerization efficiency and hybrids electroactivity, so the Mont/PEDOT displays improved electrochemical properties. It is demonstrated that clay/PEDOT-PSS hybrids exhibit diclofenac oxidation capability and diclofenac concentration sensitivity.
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