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Title: Effect of Carbon and Binder on High Sulfur Loading Electrode for Li-S Battery Technology

Journal Article · · Electrochimica Acta
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [1]
  1. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  2. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)
  3. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States)

For the Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) battery to be competitive in commercialization, it is requested that the sulfur electrode must have deliverable areal capacity > 8 mAh cm-2, which corresponds to a sulfur loading > 6 mg cm-2. At this relatively high sulfur loading, we evaluated the impact of binder and carbon type on the mechanical integrity and the electrochemical properties of sulfur electrodes. We identified hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) as a new binder for the sulfur electrode because it offers better adhesion between the electrode and the aluminum current collector than the commonly used polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binder. In combination with the binder study, multiple types of carbon with high specific surface area were evaluated as sulfur hosts for high loading sulfur electrodes. A commercial microporous carbon derived from wood with high pore volume showed the best performance. An electrode with sulfur loading up to 10 mg cm-2 was achieved with the optimized recipe. Based on systematic electrochemical studies, the soluble polysulfide to insoluble Li2S2/Li2S conversion was identified to be the major barrier for high loading sulfur electrodes to achieve high sulfur utilization.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1389217
Report Number(s):
BNL--114122-2017-JA
Journal Information:
Electrochimica Acta, Journal Name: Electrochimica Acta Journal Issue: C Vol. 235; ISSN 0013-4686
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (4)

Progress on the Critical Parameters for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries to be Practically Viable journal May 2018
A Review of Functional Binders in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries journal October 2018
Microwave-assisted synthesis of a manganese metal–organic framework and its transformation to porous MnO/carbon nanocomposite utilized as a shuttle suppressing layer in lithium–sulfur batteries journal August 2019
Effect of Electrolyte on High Sulfur Loading Li-S Batteries journal January 2018