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Title: Aqueous Polysulfide–Air Battery with a Mediator-Ion Solid Electrolyte and a Copper Sulfide Catalyst for Polysulfide Redox

Abstract

Aqueous sodium polysulfide–air batteries are a promising system for enabling low-cost, high energy density, environmentally benign batteries for grid-scale deployment. However, the sluggish redox kinetics of aqueous polysulfide requires the use of a catalyst. Cobalt sulfide is a traditional catalyst with good activity and stability, but it uses expensive and toxic cobalt. This study demonstrates for the first time the long-term cycling performance of a sodium polysulfide–air battery with a low-cost copper sulfide catalyst for polysulfide redox. Alkaline sodium polysulfide anolyte is paired with an acidic sodium phosphate buffered air catholyte by means of a Na+-ion solid-state electrolyte, which eliminates chemical crossover between the two electrodes while serving as a mediator-ion solid electrolyte. Long-term cycling is achieved by means of a decoupled charge and discharge air electrode. Furthermore, the effect of CuS redox activity in the polysulfide–air voltage window is tested by pre-discharging CuS in LiOH and in NaOH. It was found that the sodium polysulfide–air batteries with CuS catalyst exhibit good cycling performance, with the overpotential only showing a modest increase of 0.09 V after 100 cycles. Batteries assembled with CuS pre-discharged in LiOH exhibit a small boost in performance, while batteries assembled with CuS pre-discharged in NaOH showmore » a small performance decline.« less

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
OSTI Identifier:
1598249
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0005397
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Energy Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 1; Journal Issue: 12; Journal ID: ISSN 2574-0962
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; 25 ENERGY STORAGE; polysulfide−air batteries; copper sulfide catalyst; electrochemistry; catalyst stability; cycle life

Citation Formats

Gross, Martha M., and Manthiram, Arumugam. Aqueous Polysulfide–Air Battery with a Mediator-Ion Solid Electrolyte and a Copper Sulfide Catalyst for Polysulfide Redox. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1021/acsaem.8b01679.
Gross, Martha M., & Manthiram, Arumugam. Aqueous Polysulfide–Air Battery with a Mediator-Ion Solid Electrolyte and a Copper Sulfide Catalyst for Polysulfide Redox. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.8b01679
Gross, Martha M., and Manthiram, Arumugam. Thu . "Aqueous Polysulfide–Air Battery with a Mediator-Ion Solid Electrolyte and a Copper Sulfide Catalyst for Polysulfide Redox". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.8b01679. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1598249.
@article{osti_1598249,
title = {Aqueous Polysulfide–Air Battery with a Mediator-Ion Solid Electrolyte and a Copper Sulfide Catalyst for Polysulfide Redox},
author = {Gross, Martha M. and Manthiram, Arumugam},
abstractNote = {Aqueous sodium polysulfide–air batteries are a promising system for enabling low-cost, high energy density, environmentally benign batteries for grid-scale deployment. However, the sluggish redox kinetics of aqueous polysulfide requires the use of a catalyst. Cobalt sulfide is a traditional catalyst with good activity and stability, but it uses expensive and toxic cobalt. This study demonstrates for the first time the long-term cycling performance of a sodium polysulfide–air battery with a low-cost copper sulfide catalyst for polysulfide redox. Alkaline sodium polysulfide anolyte is paired with an acidic sodium phosphate buffered air catholyte by means of a Na+-ion solid-state electrolyte, which eliminates chemical crossover between the two electrodes while serving as a mediator-ion solid electrolyte. Long-term cycling is achieved by means of a decoupled charge and discharge air electrode. Furthermore, the effect of CuS redox activity in the polysulfide–air voltage window is tested by pre-discharging CuS in LiOH and in NaOH. It was found that the sodium polysulfide–air batteries with CuS catalyst exhibit good cycling performance, with the overpotential only showing a modest increase of 0.09 V after 100 cycles. Batteries assembled with CuS pre-discharged in LiOH exhibit a small boost in performance, while batteries assembled with CuS pre-discharged in NaOH show a small performance decline.},
doi = {10.1021/acsaem.8b01679},
journal = {ACS Applied Energy Materials},
number = 12,
volume = 1,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 29 00:00:00 EST 2018},
month = {Thu Nov 29 00:00:00 EST 2018}
}

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