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Title: An Aqueous Inorganic Polymer Binder for High Performance Lithium–Sulfur Batteries with Flame-Retardant Properties

Journal Article · · ACS Central Science

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries are regarded as promising next-generation high energy density storage devices for both portable electronics and electric vehicles due to their high energy density, low cost, and environmental friendliness. However, there remain some issues yet to be fully addressed with the main challenges stemming from the ionically insulating nature of sulfur and the dissolution of polysulfides in electrolyte with subsequent parasitic reactions leading to low sulfur utilization and poor cycle life. The high flammability of sulfur is another serious safety concern which has hindered its further application. Herein, an aqueous inorganic polymer, ammonium polyphosphate (APP), has been developed as a novel multifunctional binder to address the above issues. The strong binding affinity of the main chain of APP with lithium polysulfides blocks diffusion of polysulfide anions and inhibits their shuttling effect. The coupling of APP with Li ion facilitates ion transfer and promotes the kinetics of the cathode reaction. Moreover, APP can serve as a flame retardant, thus significantly reducing the flammability of the sulfur cathode. In addition, the aqueous characteristic of the binder avoids the use of toxic organic solvents, thus significantly improving safety. As a result, a high rate capacity of 520 mAh g–1 at 4 C and excellent cycling stability of ~0.038% capacity decay per cycle at 0.5 C for 400 cycles are achieved based on this binder. In conclusion, this work offers a feasible and effective strategy for employing APP as an efficient multifunctional binder toward building next-generation high energy density Li–S batteries.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Office of Sustainable Transportation. Vehicle Technologies Office (VTO)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; NCET-12-0033; 11404017
OSTI ID:
1420454
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1437553
Journal Information:
ACS Central Science, Vol. 4, Issue 2; ISSN 2374-7943
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 138 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Design of Complex Nanomaterials for Energy Storage: Past Success and Future Opportunity journal December 2017
Understanding the Anchoring Effect of Two-Dimensional Layered Materials for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries journal May 2015
A Foldable Lithium–Sulfur Battery journal October 2015
Rechargeable Lithium–Sulfur Batteries journal July 2014
Cathode Composites for Li–S Batteries via the Use of Oxygenated Porous Architectures journal October 2011
Smaller Sulfur Molecules Promise Better Lithium–Sulfur Batteries journal October 2012
Hollow Carbon Nanofiber-Encapsulated Sulfur Cathodes for High Specific Capacity Rechargeable Lithium Batteries journal October 2011
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Electrochemical Thermoelectric Conversion with Polysulfide as Redox Species journal August 2019
Nanopore separator of cross-linked poly(propylene glycol)- co -pentaerythritol triacrylate for effectively suppressing polysulfide shuttling in Li–S batteries journal January 2019
A Nonflammable and Thermotolerant Separator Suppresses Polysulfide Dissolution for Safe and Long-Cycle Lithium-Sulfur Batteries journal September 2018
A new supramolecular binder strongly enhancing the electrochemistry performance for lithium–sulfur batteries journal January 2019
Atomic Interlamellar Ion Path in High Sulfur Content Lithium-Montmorillonite Host Enables High-Rate and Stable Lithium-Sulfur Battery journal August 2018
One‐Pot Synthesis of a Copolymer Micelle Crosslinked Binder with Multiple Lithium‐Ion Diffusion Pathways for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries journal January 2020
High-Energy Aqueous Lithium Batteries journal June 2018
Aqueous-processable polymer binder with strong mechanical and polysulfide-trapping properties for high performance of lithium–sulfur batteries journal January 2018
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Designing polymers for advanced battery chemistries journal April 2019
Compactly Coupled Nitrogen‐Doped Carbon Nanosheets/Molybdenum Phosphide Nanocrystal Hollow Nanospheres as Polysulfide Reservoirs for High‐Performance Lithium–Sulfur Chemistry journal August 2019
A Review of Functional Binders in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries journal October 2018
Greatly Improved Conductivity of Double-Chain Polymer Network Binder for High Sulfur Loading Lithium-Sulfur Batteries with a Low Electrolyte/Sulfur Ratio journal July 2018
Ultrafine SnO2 Nanoparticles Encapsulated in High-Conductivity Graphited Carbon Nanotubes As Anodes for High Electrochemistry Performance Lithium-Ion Batteries journal August 2019
Rational Design of Binders for Stable Li‐S and Na‐S Batteries journal December 2019
Housing Sulfur in Polymer Composite Frameworks for Li–S Batteries journal February 2019
Patterned macroporous Fe 3 C/C membrane-induced high ionic conductivity for integrated Li–sulfur battery cathodes journal January 2019
Enhancing the Thermal Stability of Carbon Nanomaterials with DNA journal August 2019
Highly Dispersed Cobalt Clusters in Nitrogen‐Doped Porous Carbon Enable Multiple Effects for High‐Performance Li–S Battery journal January 2020
Stabilizing cathode structure via the binder material with high resilience for lithium–sulfur batteries journal January 2019
3D nitrogen-doped hierarchical porous carbon framework for protecting sulfur cathode in lithium–sulfur batteries journal January 2019
Enhancing the Thermal Stability of Carbon Nanomaterials with DNA journal August 2019

Figures / Tables (4)