Advances in lithium—sulfur batteries

X. Zhang (1) , H. Xie (2) , C.-S. Kim (3) , K. Zaghib (3) , A. Mauger (4) , C.M. Julien (4)

1 SynPLi Consulting
2 Northeast Normal University
3 IREQ - Institut de Recherche d'Hydro-Québec [Varennes]
4 IMPMC - Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie

This review is focused on the state-of-the-art of lithium-sulfur batteries. The great advantage of these energy storage devices in view of their theoretical specific capacity (2500 Wh kg−1, 2800 Wh L−1, assuming complete reaction to Li2S) has been the motivation for a huge amount of works. However, these batteries suffer of disadvantages that have restricted their applications such as high electrical resistance, capacity fading, self-discharge, mainly due to the so-called shuttle effect. Strategies have been developed with the recent modifications that have been proposed as a remedy to the shuttle effect, and the insulating nature of the polysulfides. All the elements of the battery are concerned and the solution, as we present herewith, is a combination of modification of the cathode, of the separator, of the electrolyte, including the choice of binder, even though few binder-free architectures have now been proposed.

Keywords: Lithium-sulfur batteries; Polysulfides; Composite electrodes; Electrolyte; Separators; Mesopore structure

Domains: Physics [physics]

X. Zhang, H. Xie, C.-S. Kim, K. Zaghib, A. Mauger, et al.. Advances in lithium—sulfur batteries. Materials Science and Engineering: R: Reports, 2017, 121, pp.1 - 29. ⟨10.1016/j.mser.2017.09.001⟩. ⟨hal-01612077⟩