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Title: Lithium nitrate: A double-edged sword in the rechargeable lithium-sulfur cell

Journal Article · · Energy Storage Materials
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [4];  [6];  [7];  [8]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Dept. of Physics
  2. Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States). School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). i-lab, Suzhou Inst. of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics
  4. Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China). Jiangsu Key Lab. for Carbon-based Functional Materials and Devices, Inst. of Functional Materials and Devices (FUNSOM)
  5. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Storage and Distribution Div.
  7. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Dept. of Physics; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). i-lab, Suzhou Inst. of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics
  8. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Lithium nitrate (LiNO3) has been the most studied electrolyte additive in lithium-sulfur (Li-S) cells, due to its known function of suppressing the shuttle effect in Li-S cells, which provides a significant increase in the cell's coulombic efficiency and cycling stability. Previous studies indicated that LiNO3 participated in the formation of a passive layer on the lithium electrode and thus suppressed the redox shuttle of the dissolved polysulfides. However, the effects of the LiNO3 on the positive electrode materials have rarely been investigated. By combining scanning electron microscopy, element-selective X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and electrochemical characterizations, we performed a comprehensive study of how the LiNO3 altered the properties of the sulfur electrode/electrolyte interface in Li-S cells and thus influenced the cell performance. We found that LiNO3 is a double-edged sword in the Li-S cell: on one hand, it increased the consumption of the active sulfur; on the other hand, it promoted the survival of the carbon matrix constituent in the sulfur electrode. These two competitive effects indicated that a proper moderate concentration of LiNO3 is required to achieve an optimized cell performance.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1559787
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1637205
Journal Information:
Energy Storage Materials, Vol. 16, Issue C; ISSN 2405-8297
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 34 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science