Catholyte formulations for high-energy Li-S batteries

LE STUDIUM Multidisciplinary Journal, 2019, 3, 31-43         

Satyajit Phadke1,2, Erwan Coadou2, Julie Pires2, Alexander Korzhenko3 and Mérièm Anouti2

 

1LE STUDIUM Institute for Advanced Studies, 45000 Orléans, France

2Université François Rabelais, Laboratoire PCM2E, Parc de Grandmont, 37200 Tours, France

3Groupement de recherche de Lacq, BP34, 64170 Lacq

Abstract

The sulphur electrode in LiS batteries suffers from rapid capacity loss and low efficiency due to the solubility of long chain polysulphides formed during discharge. Herein, we demonstrate the beneficial effect of original catholyte formulations containing redox active organyl disulphides (PhS2Ph) on the capacity utilization and retention as well as the efficiency in LiS batteries. Resulting from the chemical equilibria in the electrolyte between the sulphur/polysulphides (S8/Sx2-) and disulphide/thiolates (PhS2Ph/PhSx-), the polysulphide redox shuttle phenomenon is minimized due to the suppression of formation of soluble polysulphides (Sx2-, x > 4). Using the catholyte containing 0.4 M Ph2S2 as an additive in a standard base electrolyte (DOL/DME + LiTFSI/LiNO3), a stable capacity of 1050 mAh.g-1 is obtained under galvanostatic cycling at C/5 with a coulombic efficiency of >99.5%. At 45°C, it is shown that the formulated catholyte enables galvanostatic cycling at a high c-rate of 1C over 500 cycles with a capacity above 900 mAh.g-1 and a high energy efficiency of 82%.

Keywords

LiS batteries
Catholyte
Organyl disulphide
Thiolates
Capacity retention
Polysulphide shuttle
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Le STUDIUM Multidisciplinary Journal