Efficient Encapsulation of Small S2-4 Molecules in MOF-Derived Flowerlike Nitrogen-Doped Microporous Carbon Nanosheets for High-Performance Li–S Batteries

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) battery is regarded as one of the most promising next-generation efficient energy storage systems because of its ultrahigh theoretical capacity of 1675 mAh/g and energy density of 2600 Wh/kg accompanied by the environmental benignity and abundance from natural sulfur. However, the insulating nature of sulfur and the dissolution of the polysulfides Li2Sn (4 ≤ n ≤ 8) seriously restrict its practical application. The metastable small sulfur molecules (S2-4) stored in microporous carbon (pore size of <0.6 nm) as the active materials can avoid the production of the soluble polysulfide and solve the shuttle effect thoroughly. In addition, the conductivity of sulfur can be also improved. However, the preparation of microporous carbon materials with reasonable pore size and unique morphology for efficiently encapsulating S2-4 is still challenging. Herein, three flowerlike microporous nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets with the pore size of <0.6 nm (namely, FMNCN-800, -900, and -1000) as the cathode materials in Li–S batteries were obtained from temperature-dependent carbonization of the metal-organic framework (MOF), Zn-TDPAT, which was from the simply reflux reaction of N-rich ligand H6TDPAT with Zn(II) salt. Our study showed that the FMNCN-900 from carbonization of Zn-TDPAT at 900 °C has suitable pore volume and nitrogen content, accommodating small S2-4 molecules in its micropores with the mass uptake of about 45%. Meanwhile, the appropriate amount of the nitrogen doping and the unique nanostructure of the flowerlike carbon nanosheet in the FMNCN-900 can effectively support its fast electronic transmission and lithium-ion conduction. The resulting S@FMNCN-900 composite cathode material presents the excellent electrochemical property in the Li–S battery (here the carbonate as electrolytes) with a reversible capacity of about 1220 mAh/g at 0.1C after 200 cycles and even 727 mAh/g at 2C after the long-term cycle of 1000 with only around 0.02% capacity loss per cycle. Obviously, the results indicate that the delicate construction of MOF-derived nitrogen-doped microporous carbon nanosheet is a promising strategy to develop novel electrode material for high-performing Li–S batteries.