Direct electrochemical generation of supercooled sulfur microdroplets well below their melting temperature.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30602455.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1073/pnas.1817286116 and PMC identifier 6338843.
- No licence information is recorded for this record.
- Because redistribution is not established, this page shows the abstract only. Follow the links below for the full text.
Abstract
Supercooled liquid sulfur microdroplets were directly generated from polysulfide electrochemical oxidation on various metal-containing electrodes. The sulfur droplets remain liquid at 155 °C below sulfur's melting point (<i>T</i><sub>m</sub> = 115 °C), with fractional supercooling change (<i>T</i><sub>m</sub> - <i>T</i><sub>sc</sub>)/<i>T</i><sub>m</sub> larger than 0.40. <i>In operando</i> light microscopy captured the rapid merging and shape relaxation of sulfur droplets, indicating their liquid nature. Micropatterned electrode and electrochemical current allow precise control of the location and size of supercooled microdroplets, respectively. Using this platform, we initiated and observed the rapid solidification of supercooled sulfur microdroplets upon crystalline sulfur touching, which confirms supercooled sulfur's metastability at room temperature. In addition, the formation of liquid sulfur in electrochemical cell enriches lithium-sulfur-electrolyte phase diagram and potentially may create new opportunities for high-energy Li-S batteries.