Toward 500 Wh Kg^-1 in Specific Energy with Ultrahigh Areal Capacity All-Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

All-solid-state lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are considered a top choice to achieve 500 Wh kg^-1 in specific energy while meeting safety requirements for applications such as future electric aviation. A key bottleneck is that S as the active material lacks sufficient conductivities, making it difficult for effective utilization especially in the solid-state. In addition, to achieve high cell-level specific energy, not only a high-utilization S cathode is required, but also the excess weight needs to be balanced and minimized from the solid-state electrolyte (SSE) separator and the Li metal anode. In this report, solid-state S composite cathodes are designed with an argyrodite sulfide SSE and holey graphene as the electrically conducting scaffold. These solid-state cathodes exhibit high S utilization even at ultrahigh mass loadings up to 15 mg cm^-2, resulting in unprecedented areal capacities over 20 mAh cm^-2. In combination with the simultaneous reduction of the SSE separator thickness as well as the use of a low-excess Li metal anode, a unit cell specific energy value of 505 Wh kg^-1 is achieved. Significant design space remains to further optimize individual cell components, providing a feasible outlook to advancing specific energy alongside other critical cell metrics, including power and cyclability, toward practical cells and battery packs.