Greatly Suppressed Shuttle Effect for Improved Lithium Sulfur Battery Performance through Short Chain Intermediates
Na Xu1, Tao Qian1, Xuejun Liu1
1College of Physics, Optoelectronics and Energy, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Advanced Carbon Materials and Wearable Energy Technology & Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, Soochow University , Suzhou 215006, China.
Nano Letters
|December 16, 2016
Summary
Researchers developed a new strategy to suppress the shuttle effect in lithium sulfur batteries by forming short-chain intermediates, significantly improving capacity retention and Coulombic efficiency for practical applications.
Area of Science:
- Electrochemistry
- Materials Science
Background:
- Lithium sulfur batteries suffer from capacity fading and low Coulombic efficiency due to the shuttle effect of soluble long-chain lithium polysulfides.
- The shuttle effect impedes the practical application of high-energy-density lithium sulfur batteries.
Discussion:
- A novel strategy is proposed to suppress the shuttle effect by promoting the formation of short-chain polysulfide intermediates during discharge.
- This approach significantly enhances lithium sulfur battery performance, achieving high capacity retention and Coulombic efficiency.
- In situ UV/vis spectroscopy and DFT calculations confirm the formation of short-chain Li2S2 and Li2S3 as key intermediates.
Key Insights:
- The formation of short-chain polysulfides effectively mitigates the shuttle effect in lithium sulfur batteries.
- High capacity retention (1022 mAh/g with 87% retention over 450 cycles) and excellent Coulombic efficiency (∼99.5% for over 500 cycles) were achieved without LiNO3.
- The strategy demonstrates a viable pathway for improving the stability and longevity of lithium sulfur batteries.
Outlook:
- This work opens new avenues for the development of practical and high-performance lithium sulfur batteries.
- Further research can explore the optimization of electrolyte composition and electrode materials to leverage this short-chain intermediate strategy.
- The findings could accelerate the commercialization of next-generation energy storage solutions.
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