Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
5 years ago

Inhibiting Polysulfide Shuttle in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries through Low-Ion-Pairing Salts and a Triflamide Solvent

Inhibiting Polysulfide Shuttle in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries through Low-Ion-Pairing Salts and a Triflamide Solvent
Harald Scherer, Linda F. Nazar, Abhinandan Shyamsunder, Anke Hoffmann, Ingo Krossing, Graham K. Murphy, Witali Beichel, Petra Klose, Quan Pang
The step-change in gravimetric energy density needed for electrochemical energy storage devices to power unmanned autonomous vehicles, electric vehicles, and enable low-cost clean grid storage is unlikely to be provided by conventional lithium ion batteries. Lithium–sulfur batteries comprising lightweight elements provide a promising alternative, but the associated polysulfide shuttle in typical ether-based electrolytes generates loss in capacity and low coulombic efficiency. The first new electrolyte based on a unique combination of a relatively hydrophobic sulfonamide solvent and a low ion-pairing salt, which inhibits the polysulfide shuttle, is presented. This system behaves as a sparingly solvating electrolyte at slightly elevated temperatures, where it sustains reversible capacities as high as 1200–1500 mAh g−1 over a wide range of current density (2C–C/5, respectively) when paired with a lithium metal anode, with a coulombic efficiency of >99.7 % in the absence of LiNO3 additive. The detrimental polysulfide shuttle associated with Li-S batteries is alleviated (without the addition of LiNO3) through the combined use of a non-polar sulfonamide solvent and low-ion-pairing salt as the electrolyte. This combination transforms to a sparingly solvating electrolyte at 50 °C and sustains close to theoretical capacity at rates of C/5 with a coulombic efficiency of 99.7 %.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/anie.201701026

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