Sulfur/polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) composites are demonstrated as one of the interesting anode materials for lithium ion battery due to its high theoretical capacity, low cost and environmental friendliness. Herein, we investigated the electrochemical properties of SPAN composite as the anode material and LiMn₂O₄ (LMO) cathode for sulfur-lithium ion battery in carbonate based electrolyte for the first time. Sulfur as an anode coupled with a lithium-ion intercalation cathode creates a unique Li-ion/sulfur chemistry, realizing the highest energy density ever achieved, along with high safety and excellent cycle-life. The cell delivered a reversible discharge capacity of 1378.16 mAh/g at 0.1 C with specific capacity retention of 90.86% after 150 cycles. At 1 C, the capacity retention was 807.96 mAh/g after 400 cycles with an average decay rate of 0.7 mAh/cycle and average columbic efficiency of 99.5 % and its rate capability delivers a highly reversible capacity of 868.27 mAh/g at 2 C. The full SPAN/LMO cell is able to deliver a record high energy density of 185 Wh/kg (total electrode mass) and a power density of 270 W/kg (total electrode mass) at 1 C within the voltage ranging from 1 to 3.2 V. This new type of batteries surpasses current lead acid or VRLA batteries in gravimetric energy density four times. The capacity fading at 55 ℃ is mainly caused by the deposition of manganese on SPAN anode as XPS result confirmed. However, shuttling manganese was not observed when the cell was cycled at 25 ^o C. This strategy can be applied for other sulfur composite to provide a route for the development of high performance, cost effective and environmental benignity lithium ion based rechargeable batteries and the demonstrated cell with high rate and high capacity opens up new application opportunities for various electrical energy storage.

Keyword: - non-aqueous sulfur battery; SPAN composite; high capacity; energy storage