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On the Way Toward Understanding Solution Chemistry of Lithium Polysulfides for High Energy Li–S Redox Flow Batteries
Author(s) -
Pan Huilin,
Wei Xiaoliang,
Henderson Wesley A.,
Shao Yuyan,
Chen Junzheng,
Bhattacharya Priyanka,
Xiao Jie,
Liu Jun
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201500113
Subject(s) - polysulfide , redox , faraday efficiency , solubility , flow battery , electrolyte , lithium (medication) , battery (electricity) , lithium–sulfur battery , energy storage , materials science , sulfur , chemical engineering , organic radical battery , chemistry , inorganic chemistry , electrode , organic chemistry , thermodynamics , medicine , power (physics) , physics , metallurgy , engineering , endocrinology
Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) redox flow battery (RFB) is a promising candidate for high energy large‐scale energy storage application due to good solubility of long‐chain polysulfide species and low cost of sulfur. Here, the fundamental understanding and control of lithium polysulfide chemistry are studied to enable the development of liquid phase Li–S redox flow prototype cells. These differ significantly from conventional static Li–S batteries targeting for vehicle electrification. A high solubility of the different lithium polysulfides generated at different depths of discharge and states of charge is required for a flow battery in order to take full advantage of the multiple electron transitions. A new dimethyl sulfoxide based electrolyte is proposed for Li–S RFBs, which not only enables the high solubility of lithium polysulfide species, especially for the short‐chain species, but also results in excellent cycling with a high Coulombic efficiency. The challenges and opportunities for the Li–S redox flow concept have also been discussed in depth.