Lamellar mesoporous carbon derived from bagasse for the cathode materials of lithium–sulfur batteries

Mesoporous lamellar carbon was produced by direct high temperature carbonization of bagasse, a novel process designed with affordable cost and ease of production for scale-up manufacturing. The lamellar carbon exhibited a highly mesoporous structure with favorable pore size distribution, large surface area and good electrical conductivity derived from the intrinsic thin-walled parenchyma cells of bagasse. The produced lithium-sulfur battery exhibited excellent cycle stability, due to the unique pore structure of bagasse that can accommodate the drastic volume change during battery cycling, and good rate performance, due to the high electrical conductivity of bagasse derived carbon after pyrolysis. A high initial reversible capacity of 1202 mA h g(-1) (S) at 0.1C as well as a reversible capacity of 494 mA h g(-1) (S) after 180 cycles at 1C was achieved, and the capacity retention was also found to be more than 70% at 1C. The designed processing method for the facile production of lamellar mesoporous carbon derived from direct carbonization of bagasse should be a feasible method for the mass production of cathode materials for high performance lithium-sulfur batteries.