Scientists in the US have developed a new lithium/polysulfide (Li/PS) semi-liquid battery for large-scale energy storage, with lithium polysulfide (Li2S8) in ether as a catholyte and metallic lithium as an anode.
As the catholyte is designed to cycle only in the range between sulfur and Li2S4 it avoids detrimental effects due to the formation and volume expansion of solid Li2S2/Li2S. This proof-of-concept Li/PS battery can reach 170 W h kg-1 and 190 W h L-1 at its solubility limit. It achieved an energy density of 108 W h L-1 and 97 W h kg-1 based on the mass of the polysulphide catholyte and lithium.
The cost of raw materials in this system was as low as $45 kW h-1 and $145 kW-1. Moreover, no expensive ion-selective membrane is needed for this system.
Read the full details of this exciting work today:
A membrane-free lithium/polysulfide semi-liquid battery for large-scale energy storage
Yuan Yang, Guangyuan Zheng and Yi Cui
DOI: 10.1039/C3EE00072A
