Invited Presentation: Advances in Li/S Batteries

The recent progresses of the lithium sulfur battery, both in terms of stability, energy density and cycling life, triggered increasing interest of the scientific community and of the battery manufacturers, particularly in view of its possible use as the energy storage system for electric vehicles.^[1] It is, in fact, expected that the sulfur battery may be in the next few years the “high-energy” system of choice for EVs and for storage in renewable-energy plants. The several issues associated with the lithium sulfur battery, including i) electrode dissolution and volume variation, ii) high cell polarization, iii) insulating nature of the electrode and iv) polysulfide shuttle effect, have been recently addressed by adopting innovative solutions leading to enhancement of the electrochemical behavior. Among the various improvements, a crucial role has been played by composite sulfur-carbon electrodes, having “ad-hoc” structures designed to increase the sulfur utilization ad to buffer its volume variation.^[2] A relevant approach to avoid the polysulfide shuttle reactions is the employment of additive salts in the electrolyte solution acting as the anode-film forming agent ^[3]. Recently, the use of solution containing dissolved polysulfide has been proposed as an effective way to physically and electrochemically buffer the sulfur cathode dissolution.^[4] Even more attracting has been the use of dissolved polysulfide as the cathode in a semi-liquid cell configuration, in which the electrochemical process evolves in the electrolyte solution ^[5]. In this presentation, we report an overview of the most recent attempts employed to make the “lithium-sulfur” system suitable for application as new energy storage system of interest in the emerging green-technology field.

[1] B. Scrosati, J. Hassoun, Y- K. Sun, Energy Environ. Sci. 2011, 4, 3287

[2] J-H. Kim, D-J. Lee, H-G. Jung, Y-K. Sun, J. Hassoun, B. Scrosati, Adv. Funct. Mater. 2013, 23, 1076

[3] D. Aurbach, E. Pollak, R. Elazari, G. Salitra, C.S. Kelley, J. Affinito, J. of the Electrochem. Soc. 2009, 156, A694

[4] D.-J. Lee, M. Agostini, J.-W. Park, Y.-K. Sun, J. Hassoun, B. Scrosati, ChemSusChem 2013, 6, 2245 – 2248

[5] Y. Yang, G. Zheng, Y. Cui, Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, 6, 1552