Novel biomass derived hierarchical porous carbon for lithium sulfur batteries

A novel hierarchical porous carbon (HPC) derived from biomass fiber of fern has been prepared by one-step pyrolysis method. The HPC has very large specific surface area of 1549.7 m2 g−1 and high total pore volume of 0.88 cm3 g−1. At the same time, the HPC is mild co-doped by inherent S and O. The prepared S/HPC cathode with 66.4% sulfur shows an high initial discharge capacity of 1377 mA h g−1 at 0.2C and retains 753 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles.