The importance of the dissolution of polysulfides in lithium-sulfur batteries and a perspective on high-energy electrolyte/cathode design

Linghui Yu, Samuel Jun Hoong Ong, Xianhu Liu, Daniel Mandler, Zhichuan J. Xu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The dissolution of polysulfides is widely considered to be a major obstacle for developing lithium-sulfur batteries (LSBs) because it results in a shuttle effect. A popular strategy to address this issue is preventing polysulfide dissolution, e.g., trapping/confining polysulfides in porous carbons. However, this conflicts with the advantage of commonly used ether-based electrolytes, i.e., the dissolution of polysulfides in such electrolytes is beneficial for delivering Li+ to sulfur-based species compared to sluggish solid-state transport. Thus, a question is raised on the feasibility of the strategy to prevent polysulfide dissolution. Here, it is shown that the dissolution of polysulfides in ether-based electrolytes is necessary for a high capacity, suggesting that it might not be right to prevent the dissolution of polysulfides in such electrolytes. Thus, other approaches should be developed. A perspective is hence provided for designing electrolyte/cathode for high-energy LSBs.

Original languageEnglish
Article number139013
JournalElectrochimica Acta
Volume392
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2021

Keywords

  • Energy storage
  • Lithium-sulfur battery
  • Polysulfide confinement
  • Shuttle effect

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Chemical Engineering
  • Electrochemistry

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