Issue 35, 2014

Mechanistic insights into operational lithium–sulfur batteries by in situ X-ray diffraction and absorption spectroscopy

Abstract

The lithium–sulfur battery is an extremely attractive system for electrical energy storage because of its exceptional theoretical capacity and energy density. However, the practical values typically obtained are much lower and inherently determined by the complex chemistry of reduced sulfur species. The lack of methods to probe sulfur species under realistic battery conditions has frustrated chemical understanding and control. We have employed in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and sulfur K-edge X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) to probe the sulfur intermediates and products formed in battery electrodes during operation of prototype lithium–sulfur batteries. Correlations between the X-ray and electrochemical data show that the reduction of sulfur to lithium sulfide is mediated through dissociation and disproportionation reactions of a few dominant sulfur species. Deliberate control of these chemical equilibria is essential to approach the theoretical capacity of the lithium–sulfur system.

Graphical abstract: Mechanistic insights into operational lithium–sulfur batteries by in situ X-ray diffraction and absorption spectroscopy

Supplementary files

Additions and corrections

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
17 Feb 2014
Accepted
05 Apr 2014
First published
07 Apr 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 18347-18353

Mechanistic insights into operational lithium–sulfur batteries by in situ X-ray diffraction and absorption spectroscopy

M. A. Lowe, J. Gao and H. D. Abruña, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 18347 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA01388C

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