Cathode porosity is a missing key parameter to optimize lithium-sulfur battery energy density

Ning Kang, Yuxiao Lin, Li Yang, Dongping Lu, Jie Xiao, Yue Qi () and Mei Cai ()
Additional contact information
Ning Kang: Optimal CAE, Inc
Yuxiao Lin: Michigan State University
Li Yang: General Motors Global R&D Center
Dongping Lu: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Jie Xiao: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Yue Qi: Michigan State University
Mei Cai: General Motors Global R&D Center

Nature Communications, 2019, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract While high sulfur loading has been pursued as a key parameter to build realistic high-energy lithium-sulfur batteries, less attention has been paid to the cathode porosity, which is much higher in sulfur/carbon composite cathodes than in traditional lithium-ion battery electrodes. For high-energy lithium-sulfur batteries, a dense electrode with low porosity is desired to minimize electrolyte intake, parasitic weight, and cost. Here we report the profound impact on the discharge polarization, reversible capacity, and cell cycling life of lithium-sulfur batteries by decreasing cathode porosities from 70 to 40%. According to the developed mechanism-based analytical model, we demonstrate that sulfur utilization is limited by the solubility of lithium-polysulfides and further conversion from lithium-polysulfides to Li2S is limited by the electronically accessible surface area of the carbon matrix. Finally, we predict an optimized cathode porosity to maximize the cell level volumetric energy density without sacrificing the sulfur utilization.

Date: 2019
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12542-6 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:10:y:2019:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-019-12542-6

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12542-6

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().