Investigation of metal-doped polymer-derived ceramics as sulfur hosts for cathodes of lithium-sulfur batteries

• Grant number: 23/11417-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Effective date (Start): March 15, 2024
• Effective date (End): May 24, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Electrical Materials
• Principal Investigator: Hudson Giovani Zanin
• Grantee: Murilo Machado Amaral
• Supervisor: Gurpreet Singh
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de Computação (FEEC). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Research place: Kansas State University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/09387-1 - In-situ FTIR and Raman spectroscopy of lithium-ion batteries and lithium-sulfur batteries, BP.DR

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been deeply investigated in the last decade for presenting high capacity, energy density, and low cost. However, Li-S batteries have a major drawback known as the shuttle effect, decreasing their capacity and resulting in capacity fade after a low number of cycles. Therefore, several studies have explored alternatives to overcome this drawback, such as the application of novel carbonaceous materials as sulfur hosts, which can adsorb lithium-polysulfides (LiPS). Beyond the use of carbonaceous materials, the addition of metal sulfides, metal-organic frameworks, and metal oxide nanoparticles has provided strong adsorption of LiPS, helping to increase the battery cyclability. Polymer-derived ceramics (PDC) materials have rarely been investigated as sulfur hosts for Li-S batteries, such as silicon carbonitride (SiCN), silicon oxycarbonitride (SiOCN), and silicon oxycarbide (SiOC). PDC compositions derived from low-cost polysiloxanes that contain SixOyCz may be equally or more effective sulfur hosts than materials previously reported in the literature. However, these compositions have still not been studied, except for a recent study conducted by the author of this proposal, which provided capacity retention of H 34.25% of the system's initial capacity after 300 cycles, a significant result for Li-S batteries.¬ Therefore, in order to further explore the application of SiOC as the cathode for Li-S batteries, the goal of this proposal is to investigate the contribution of metal-doping processes in PDC materials as sufur hosts, aiming to obtain materials that can efficiently overcome the adsorb LiPS and provide high cyclability to Li-S batteries.