A New Type of Electrolyte System To Suppress Polysulfide Dissolution for Lithium-Sulfur Battery.

Yang, Tingzhou; Qian, Tao; Liu, Jie; Xu, Na; Li, Yutao; Grundish, Nicholas; Yan, Chenglin; Goodenough, John B · ACS Nano · 2019

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have been explored extensively for high-capacity electric-power storage, but their practical application has been prevented by severe issues stemming from the use of a lithium anode and an organic-liquid electrolyte in which Li<sub>2</sub>S<sub><i>x</i></sub> intermediates of the cell discharge reaction are soluble and shuttle to the anode. Both problems are addressed using bis(4-nitrophenyl) carbonate as an additive in the organic-liquid electrolyte. The soluble Li<sub>2</sub>S<sub><i>x</i></sub> polysulfides react with the additive to create insoluble polysulfides with a lithium byproduct; this byproduct reacts with the Li-metal anode to create an anode passivation layer that is a good Li<sup>+</sup> conductor, which allows for safe and rapid plating/stripping of lithium metal with a low impedance.