In Situ Localized Polysulfide Injector for the Activation of Bulk Lithium Sulfide

Matthew Li; Jun Lu; Jiayan Shi; Seoung-Bum Son; Dan Luo; Ira Bloom; Zhongwei Chen; Khalil Amine

doi:10.1021/jacs.0c11265

In Situ Localized Polysulfide Injector for the Activation of Bulk Lithium Sulfide

J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Feb 10;143(5):2185-2189. doi: 10.1021/jacs.0c11265. Epub 2021 Jan 28.

Authors

Matthew Li^{1

2}, Jun Lu¹, Jiayan Shi^{1

3}, Seoung-Bum Son¹, Dan Luo², Ira Bloom¹, Zhongwei Chen², Khalil Amine^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Chemical Sciences and Engineering Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 Cass Avenue, Lemont, Illinois 60439, United States.
² Department of Chemical Engineering, Waterloo Institute of Nanotechnology, University of Waterloo,200 University Avenue West, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada.
³ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of California-Riverside, Riverside, California 92521, United States.
⁴ Department of Material Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, United States.

PMID: 33507072
DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c11265

Abstract

The activation of commercial Li₂S remains to be one of the key challenges against its commercialization as a starting cathode material for a sulfur-based Li-ion battery system. In this work we take advantage of the lower oxidation potential of commercial Na₂S (1-3 wt%) to serve as an in situ and local polysulfide injector for the activation of commercial Li₂S (70 wt%). In contrast to applying pre-solvated redox mediators, this technique allows for the activation of commercial Li₂S at lower voltages with an electrolyte content as low as 3 μL mg^-1_Li₂S at 3 mgmg_Li₂S cm^-2 and 4 μL mg^-1_Li₂S at 6.5 mg_Li₂S cm^-2 without any other material modification.