The effect of water-containing electrolyte on lithium-sulfur batteries

Wu, Heng-Liang; Haasch, Richard T.; Perdue, Brian R.; Apblett, Christopher A.; Gewirth, Andrew A.

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.09.044

The effect of water-containing electrolyte on lithium-sulfur batteries

Journal Article · Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Power Sources

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2017.09.044· OSTI ID:1478467

Wu, Heng-Liang ^[1]; Haasch, Richard T. ^[2]; Perdue, Brian R. ^[3]; Apblett, Christopher A. ^[3]; ^[1]

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States). Department of Chemistry
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States). Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Dissolved polysulfides, formed during Li-S battery operation, freely migrate and react with both the Li anode and the sulfur cathode. These soluble polysulfides shuttle between the anode and cathode – the so-called shuttle effect – resulting in an infinite recharge process and poor Columbic efficiency. We present that water present as an additive in the Li-S battery electrolyte is found to reduce the shuttle effect in Li-S batteries. Batteries where water content was below 50 ppm exhibited a substantial shuttle effect and low charge capacity. Alternatively, addition of 250 ppm water led to stable charge/discharge behavior with high Coulombic efficiency. XPS results show that H₂O addition results in the formation of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film with more LiOH on Li anode which protects the Li anode from the polysulfides. Batteries cycled without water result in a SEI film with more Li₂CO₃ likely formed by direct contact between the Li metal and the solvent. Intermediate quantities of H₂O in the electrolyte result in high cycle efficiency for the first few cycles which then rapidly decays. Lastly, this suggests that H₂O is consumed during battery cycling, likely by interaction with freshly exposed Li metal formed during Li deposition.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; AC04-94AL85000

OSTI ID:: 1478467

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1549460

Report Number(s):: SAND--2018-9770J; 667648

Journal Information:: Journal of Power Sources, Journal Name: Journal of Power Sources Journal Issue: C Vol. 369; ISSN 0378-7753

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Toward Better Lithium–Sulfur Batteries: Functional Non-aqueous Liquid Electrolytes Xiong, Shizhao; Regula, Michael; Wang, Donghai Electrochemical Energy Reviews, Vol. 1, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41918-018-0015-y	journal	August 2018
Recent Progress in Liquid Electrolyte-Based Li–S Batteries: Shuttle Problem and Solutions Gu, Sui; Sun, Changzhi; Xu, Dong Electrochemical Energy Reviews, Vol. 1, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s41918-018-0021-0	journal	November 2018
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Li-S batteries
SEI layer
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The effect of water-containing electrolyte on lithium-sulfur batteries

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