There is an urgent demand for long lasting ad high energy density rechargeable batteries with the rapid emergence of electric vehicles and large-scale stationary energy storage devices^{1, 2}. Lithium–sulfur batteries (Li – S batteries) present theoretical energy densities of 2600 W h kg⁻¹, drastically higher than those of current lithium-ion batteries based on intercalation chemistry³. In addition, sulfur exhibits many advantages including low cost, natural occurrence in high abundance, and environmental friendliness. Sulfur is hence, a promising candidate to satisfy the growing and extending market need⁴.

Despite these advantages, poor room – temperature electronic conductivity (~10^-15 S/cm)⁵ along with the dissolution of long-chain polysulfide intermediates⁶ (S_n²⁻, 3 ≤ n ≤ 8) in organic electrolyte results in significant loss of active materials from the cathode. In addition, polysulfide dissolution causes a change is electrolyte composition during the charge – discharge state leading to the formation of a solid electrolyte interface (SEI) at the lithium anode which is one of the main reasons for poor rate stability and performance decay⁷.

To tackle the problems faced by Li – S batteries, extensive efforts have been conducted, such as designing novel composite nanostructures to immobilize sulfur within the cathode^{8, 9}, and optimizing the electrode structure by introducing a ceramic interlayer between the cathode and the separator to restrict the polysulfides within the cathode side² and employing solid and gel polymer electrolytes to block the diffusion and migration of the polysulfides^{10, 11}.

In this work, inorganic materials with fine-tuned porosity and pore diameters were used as efficient polysulfide trapping sulfur hosts in Li – S battery. The ceramic oxide frameworks bind and restrains the polysulfides. The frameworks were infiltrated with sulfur using vapor infiltration techniques. These sulfur – hosted cathodes have been characterized chemically and electrochemically to validate their polysulfide restraining capacity in Li – S battery. Results of these studies will be presented and discussed.

Acknowledgements: Authors acknowledge the financial support of DOE grant DE-EE 0006825 and DE-EE-0008199, Edward R. Weidlein Chair Professorship funds and the Center for Complex Engineered Multifunctional Materials (CCEMM).

References

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