Confine sulfur in urchin-like nitrogen doped carbon particles for lithium-sulfur batteries

Melt-diffusion and vapor-phase infusion is widely used to introduce sulfur into the pores of carbon matrix to improve the performance of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. However, it is limited performance enhancement due to low sulfur content and unavoidable land on the outer surface of host material. Herein, we introduce an effective and facile strategy to prepare an urchin-like S@N-doped carbon composite by in situ oxidizing the N-carbon coated metal sulfide precursor. The prepared urchin-like S@N-doped carbon particle cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries exhibits a high initial capacity of 820 mAh−1 and excellent cycling performance of 760 mAh−1 after 100 cycles at 0.5 C with a high mass sulfur loading (78.9 wt%, 3.5 mAh cm−2). This work provides an efficient route to prepare sulfur/porous carbons for energy storage application.