Polyaniline modified waste-derived graphene/sulfur nanocomposite cathode for lithium–sulfur batteries

Reduction of plastic wastes in the environment and solving the energy demands from renewable sources are two important challenging tasks of this century. Modern day lives are highly entangled with polymers, however handling the huge wastes from plastics is also a serious concern. Translating the plastic wastes to useful products such as graphene can be an alternative for nonbiodegradable polymer wastes. Efficient energy storage devices, for instance, batteries are required for storing the renewable energies. With the aim of regulating these issues, we report, for the first time, the preparation of high energy cathode materials from the nanocomposites (NCs) having polyaniline (PANI), waste-derived graphene (WDG) derived from plastic waste and sulfur (S) for Li–S battery applications. We compare the electrochemical properties of cathodes derived from WDG/S and WDG/PANI/S in Li–S batteries. The specific discharge capacity of WDG/PANI/S at 0.1 C was obtained to be 880 mAhg⁻¹ normalized to sulfur mass at 1st cycle, 472 mAhg⁻¹ at 100th cycle, and 400 mAhg⁻¹ at 160th cycle. The rate capability is also found to be good at C-rates less than 0.5 C. We found that WDG/PANI/S showed decent electrochemical properties when compared with the reference sample, WDG/S at similar sulfur loading without PANI modification.