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Title: Supramolecular Perylene Bisimide-Polysulfide Gel Networks as Nanostructured Redox Mediators in Dissolved Polysulfide Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Journal Article · · Chemistry of Materials
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

Here we report a new redox-active perylene bisimide (PBI)-polysulfide (PS) gel that overcomes electronic charge-transport bottlenecks common to lithium-sulfur (Li-S) hybrid redox flow batteries designed for long-duration grid-scale energy storage applications. PBI was identified as a supramolecular redox mediator for soluble lithium polysulfides from a library of 85 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons by using a high-throughput computational platform; furthermore, these theoretical predictions were validated electrochemically. Challenging conventional wisdom, we found that π-stacked PBI assemblies were stable even in their reduced state through secondary interactions between PBI nanofibers and Li2Sn, which resulted in a redox-active, flowable 3-D gel network. The influence of supramolecular charge-transporting PBI-PS gel networks on Li-S battery performance was investigated in depth and revealed enhanced sulfur utilization and rate performance (C/4 and C/8) at a sulfur loading of 4 mg cm-2 and energy density of 44 Wh L-1 in the absence of conductive carbon additives.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1513783
Journal Information:
Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 19; ISSN 0897-4756
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 64 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (20)

A Comprehensive Review of Materials with Catalytic Effects in Li–S Batteries: Enhanced Redox Kinetics journal August 2019
Recent Advances in Applying Vulcanization/Inverse Vulcanization Methods to Achieve High-Performance Sulfur-Containing Polymer Cathode Materials for Li-S Batteries journal August 2018
A Supramolecular Capsule for Reversible Polysulfide Storage/Delivery in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries journal November 2017
Thermally Rearranged Polymer Membranes Containing Tröger's Base Units Have Exceptional Performance for Air Separations journal March 2018
Insight into the self-assembly of water-soluble perylene bisimide derivatives through a combined computational and experimental approach journal January 2019
Thermally Rearranged Polymer Membranes Containing Tröger's Base Units Have Exceptional Performance for Air Separations journal March 2018
Cyclic Voltammetry in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries—Challenges and Opportunities journal April 2019
Housing Sulfur in Polymer Composite Frameworks for Li–S Batteries journal February 2019
Toward Better Lithium–Sulfur Batteries: Functional Non-aqueous Liquid Electrolytes journal August 2018
Heterogeneous/Homogeneous Mediators for High-Energy-Density Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Progress and Prospects journal June 2018
Revisiting the Role of Polysulfides in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries journal March 2018
The dual actions of modified polybenzimidazole in taming the polysulfide shuttle for long-life lithium–sulfur batteries journal October 2016
A Toolbox for Lithium-Sulfur Battery Research: Methods and Protocols journal June 2017
Impact of Linear Alkyl Length on the Assembly of Twisted Perylene Bisimides: From Molecular Arrangement to Nanostructures journal October 2017
Anion–π interactions in lithium–organic redox flow batteries journal January 2019
Beyond Covalent Crosslinks: Applications of Supramolecular Gels journal May 2018
Influence of imide-substituents on the H-type aggregates of perylene diimides bearing cetyloxy side-chains at bay positions journal January 2017
A Comprehensive Review of Materials with Catalytic Effects in Li–S Batteries: Enhanced Redox Kinetics journal December 2019
A Supramolecular Capsule for Reversible Polysulfide Storage/Delivery in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries journal November 2017
Materials Genomics Screens for Adaptive Ion Transport Behavior by Redox-Switchable Microporous Polymer Membranes in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries journal April 2017

Figures / Tables (4)