Scientific Achievement
This work presents the promising new concepts of using sparingly solvating electrolyte to enable Li-S battery operation at lean electrolyte condition, as well as the design rules for discovering new electrolyte systems.
Significance and Impact
The proposed new approach fundamentally decouples electrolyte volume from sulfur and polysulfide reaction mechanism and is a key path forward for long-lived, high-energy density Li-S batteries.
Research Details
- Electrolytes that are sparingly solvating to polysulfide intermediates enable successful a precipitation-dissolution mechanism that is key to high intrinsic energy density and optimal distribution of active materials.
- The design rules for achieving solubility and mobility of the supporting salt (e.g., LiTFSI) and not lithium polysulfides fall within the categories of limited solvent and selective solvent.
- Computational screening has been performed to find potential electrolyte candidates with the required selective solubility to polysulfides.
