Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory have advanced lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery research by creating a redox-active interlayer within the battery that adds energy storage capacity while nearly eliminating a traditional problem with sulfur batteries. An open-access paper on their work was published in the journal Nature Communications.
Lithium-sulfur batteries have theoretical specific energy higher than state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries. However, from a practical perspective, these batteries exhibit poor cycle life and low energy content owing to the polysulfides shuttling during cycling. To tackle these issues, researchers proposed the use of redox-inactive protective layers between the sulfur-containing cathode and lithium metal anode. However, these interlayers provide additional weight to the cell, thus, decreasing the practical specific energy.
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