Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have high theoretical energy density and low raw materials cost compared to present lithium-ion batteries and are thus promising for use in electric transportation and other applications. A major obstacle for Li-S batteries is low rate capability, especially at the lo...
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Electrochemical Society
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111788 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5519-1946 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7564-7173 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0833-7674 |
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| author | Lau, Kah Chun Assary, Rajeev S. Woodford, William H. Curtiss, Larry A. Fang, Frank Yuxing Pan, Menghsuan Sam Carter, W Craig Chiang, Yet-Ming |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering Lau, Kah Chun Assary, Rajeev S. Woodford, William H. Curtiss, Larry A. Fang, Frank Yuxing Pan, Menghsuan Sam Carter, W Craig Chiang, Yet-Ming |
| author_sort | Lau, Kah Chun |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have high theoretical energy density and low raw materials cost compared to present lithium-ion batteries and are thus promising for use in electric transportation and other applications. A major obstacle for Li-S batteries is low rate capability, especially at the low electrolyte/sulfur (E/S) ratios required for high energy density. Herein, we investigate several potentially rate-limiting factors for Li-S batteries. We study the ionic conductivity of lithium polysulfide solutions of varying concentration and in different ether-based solvents and their exchange current density on glassy carbonworking electrodes. We believe this is the first such investigation of exchange current density for lithium polysulfide in solution. Exchange current densities are measured using both electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and steady-state galvanostatic polarization. In the range of interest (1-8 M [S]), the ionic conductivity monotonically decreases with increasing sulfur concentration while exchange current density shows a more complicated relationship to sulfur concentration. The electrolyte solvent dramatically affects ionic conductivity and exchange current density. The measured ionic conductivities and exchange current densities are also used to interpret the overpotential and rate capability of polysulfide-nanocarbon suspensions; this analysis demonstrates that ionic conductivity is the rate-limiting property in the solution regime (i.e. between Li 2 S 8 and Li 2 S 4 ). |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:31:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/111788 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T14:31:08Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Electrochemical Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1117882022-09-29T09:42:56Z Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries Lau, Kah Chun Assary, Rajeev S. Woodford, William H. Curtiss, Larry A. Fang, Frank Yuxing Pan, Menghsuan Sam Carter, W Craig Chiang, Yet-Ming Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering Fang, Frank Yuxing Pan, Menghsuan Sam Carter, W Craig Chiang, Yet-Ming Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have high theoretical energy density and low raw materials cost compared to present lithium-ion batteries and are thus promising for use in electric transportation and other applications. A major obstacle for Li-S batteries is low rate capability, especially at the low electrolyte/sulfur (E/S) ratios required for high energy density. Herein, we investigate several potentially rate-limiting factors for Li-S batteries. We study the ionic conductivity of lithium polysulfide solutions of varying concentration and in different ether-based solvents and their exchange current density on glassy carbonworking electrodes. We believe this is the first such investigation of exchange current density for lithium polysulfide in solution. Exchange current densities are measured using both electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and steady-state galvanostatic polarization. In the range of interest (1-8 M [S]), the ionic conductivity monotonically decreases with increasing sulfur concentration while exchange current density shows a more complicated relationship to sulfur concentration. The electrolyte solvent dramatically affects ionic conductivity and exchange current density. The measured ionic conductivities and exchange current densities are also used to interpret the overpotential and rate capability of polysulfide-nanocarbon suspensions; this analysis demonstrates that ionic conductivity is the rate-limiting property in the solution regime (i.e. between Li 2 S 8 and Li 2 S 4 ). 2017-10-04T16:20:25Z 2017-10-04T16:20:25Z 2016-11 2016-11 2017-10-02T20:31:05Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0013-4651 1945-7111 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111788 Fan, Frank Y. et al. “Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries.” Journal of The Electrochemical Society 163, 14 (November 2016): A3111–A3116 © 2016 The Author(s) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5519-1946 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7564-7173 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0833-7674 http://dx.doi.org/10.1149/2.1181614JES Journal of The Electrochemical Society Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf Electrochemical Society The Electrochemical Society (ECS) |
| spellingShingle | Lau, Kah Chun Assary, Rajeev S. Woodford, William H. Curtiss, Larry A. Fang, Frank Yuxing Pan, Menghsuan Sam Carter, W Craig Chiang, Yet-Ming Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries |
| title | Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries |
| title_full | Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries |
| title_fullStr | Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries |
| title_short | Solvent Effects on Polysulfide Redox Kinetics and Ionic Conductivity in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries |
| title_sort | solvent effects on polysulfide redox kinetics and ionic conductivity in lithium sulfur batteries |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111788 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5519-1946 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7564-7173 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0833-7674 |
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