Title: A Four-Electron Sulfur Electrode Hosting a Cu ²⁺/Cu ⁺ Redox Charge Carrier

Abstract

The elemental sulfur electrode with Cu ²⁺ as the charge carrier gives a four–electron sulfur electrode reaction through the sequential conversion of S↔CuS↔Cu ₂S. The Cu–S redox–ion electrode delivers a high specific capacity of 3044 mAh g ^–1 based on the sulfur mass or 609 mAh g ^–1 based on the mass of Cu ₂S, the completely discharged product, and displays an unprecedently high potential of sulfur/metal sulfide reduction at 0.5 V vs. SHE. The Cu–S electrode also exhibits an extremely low extent of polarization of 0.05 V and an outstanding cycle number of 1200 cycles retaining 72 % of the initial capacity at 12.5 A g ^–1. Here, the remarkable utility of this Cu–S cathode is further demonstrated in a hybrid cell that employs an Zn metal anode and an anion–exchange membrane as the separator, which yields an average cell discharge voltage of 1.15 V, the half–cell specific energy of 547 Wh kg ^–1 based on the mass of the Cu ₂S/carbon composite cathode, and stable cycling over 110 cycles.

Authors:

Wu, Xianyong ^[1]; Markir, Aaron ^[1]; Ma, Lu ^[2]; Xu, Yunkai ^[1]; Jiang, Heng ^[1]; Leonard, Daniel P. ^[1]; Shin, Woochul ^[1]; Wu, Tianpin ^[2]; Lu, Jun ^[3]; Ji, Xiulei  ^[1]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
2. Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States). X-ray Science Div., Advanced Photon Sources
3. Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States). Chemical Sciences and Engineering Div.

Publication Date:

2019-07-13

Research Org.:

Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V); National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI Identifier:

1574296

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1545651

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-06CH11357

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Name: Angewandte Chemie (International Edition); Journal Volume: 58; Journal Issue: 36; Journal ID: ISSN 1433-7851

Publisher:

Wiley

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

25 ENERGY STORAGE; aqueous electrolytes; copper-sulfur chemistry; four-electron reaction; redox charge carriers; zinc battery