Sulfur-vanadium oxide gel composites as thin film cathodes for rechargeable lithium batteries
A class of novel electroactive cathode materials based on composites produced from elemental sulfur and vanadium oxide xerogels or aerogels has been developed as models for lithium battery applications. The use of elemental sulfur in rechargeable lithium batteries has been hindered due to certain limitations such as, very low electronic conductivity and the out-diffusion of polysulfides during the cycling process which reduces the cycling efficiency. Vanadium oxide xerogels and aerogels have certain desirable characteristic physico-chemical properties, such as, high surface areas with nono-scale interconnecting porosity, high electronic conductivity, non- or nanocrystallinity, and oxidation reduction catalytic activity. Since these properties may improve the performance of sulfur based rechargeable batteries, a family of composite cathodes containing elemental sulfur and vanadium oxide gels were produced. The performance of the composites cathodes, in thin film form, were evaluated in coin cells and AA cells with metallic lithium anodes and liquid electrolytes. The multifunctional role of vanadium oxide gels on the cell performance of the cells having composite cathodes has been qualitatively explored. Results indicate that the cathodes having xerogel composites based on vanadium oxide sol from vanadium oxide isopropoxide can be made with high sulfur content (80 wt %) and with low carbon content (5 wt %) and without any polymer binder. This shows the contribution of adhesive properties and electronic conductivity of vanadium oxide xerogels. A significant suppression of polysulfide out-diffusion is observed with appropriate processing of the composite cathodes. It is anticipated that the nanoscale interconnecting porosity of gels plays an important role in this behavior. An excellent rate capability is observed with the vanadium-oxide sulfur composite cathodes indicating the contribution of intrinsic electrochemical properties of the vanadium oxide.
- Research Organization:
- Moltech Corp., Tucson, AZ (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 20000327
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 33rd Intersociety Energy Conversion Engineering Conference, Colorado Springs, CO (US), 08/02/1998--08/06/1998; Other Information: 1 CD-ROM. Operating system required: Windows 3.x; Windows95/NT; Macintosh; UNIX. All systems need 2X CD-ROM drive., PBD: 1998; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 33. intersociety energy conversion engineering conference, by Anghaie, S. [ed.], [2800] pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Electrochemically Stable High Energy Density Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Understanding Conversion-Type Electrodes for Lithium Rechargeable Batteries