Biomass-derived N-doped lamellar hierarchically porous carbon for high-performance Li-Se batteries

Lithium-selenium (Li-Se) batteries have garnered significant attention recently due to their high energy density. However, selenium cathodes still face challenges such as poor conductivity and severe volume expansion. In this study, we design a novel two-dimensional nitrogen-doped lamellar porous selenium/carbon composite cathode material (Se@NLPC-P) for high performance Li-Se battery. Our results show that the lamellar structure assembled from biomass-derived stacked nitrogen-doped carbon nanosheets, possesses abundant active sites and hierarchical porosity with strong anchoring capability for selenium species. Such a unique structure additionally facilitates electron/ion transfer. Consequently, the Se@NLPC-P cathode retains a reversible capacity of 578 mAh g-1 at 0.5 C after 500 cycles, exhibiting superior rate performance and rapid reaction kinetics. This strategy on design of biomass-derived lamellar porous carbon hosts via a molecular structure-directing provides new insights for enhanced performance of Li-Se batteries.