Heteroatom doping carbon film derived from hyphae as a self-supporting cathode for advanced lithium sulfur batteries

A carbon film composed of a continuous fibrous network was fabricated from the Penicillium Chrysogenum hyphae via high temperature carbonization. It possesses a large specific surface area, excellent conductivity, and rich heteroatomic doping. As a host of self-supporting cathodes in advanced lithium sulfur batteries, it demonstrates strong adsorption force for polysulfide ions and further enhanced electrochemical kinetics. [Display omitted] •Penicillium chrysogenum hyphae derived carbon film was used as a self-supporting cathode for Li-S batteries.•Hyphae-based carbon film is rich in N, O, P, and S heteroatoms.•Hyphae-based carbon film with heteroatoms anchored polysulfide ions by physical and chemical effects.•The self-supporting cathode delivered improved cycling stability and electrochemical kinetics. Much attention has been paid to lithium sulfur battery due to its high energy density. However, low S loading and poor cycling stability have hindered their commercialization. In this work, a porous carbon film with rich heteroatom doping was prepared from the Penicillium chrysogenum hyphae film by freezing drying and high-temperature carbonization. Then the carbon film loaded polysulfide solution was utilized as a self-supporting cathode for Li-S batteries. The self-supporting cathode exhibited good rate performance (513.1 mAh/g at 1C) and improved cycling stability (more than 400 cycles) under a high current density (0.5C). This is mainly attributed to the abundant heteroatoms that provided active sites with superior adsorption ability for lithium polysulfide, which not only enhanced the cycling stability but also facilitated the conversion kinetics. Besides, the fibrous network morphology with affluent porous structures inherited from hyphae provided a large specific surface area and sufficient space for accommodating active substances. This work shows the great potential of hyphae derived porous carbon electrodes for high-performance energy storage applications.