Inverse Vulcanization of Elemental Sulfur to Prepare Polymeric Electrode Materials for Li–S Batteries

Abstract

Sulfur-rich copolymers based on poly(sulfurrandom- 1,3-diisopropenylbenzene) (poly(S-r-DIB)) were synthesized via inverse vulcanization to create cathode materials for lithium−sulfur battery applications. These materials exhibit enhanced capacity retention (1005 mAh/g at 100 cycles) and battery lifetimes over 500 cycles at a C/10 rate. These poly(Sr- DIB) copolymers represent a new class of polymeric electrode materials that exhibit one of the highest charge capacities reported, particularly after extended charge− discharge cycling in Li−S batteries.