Li-S batteries: Simple approaches for superior performance

Although promising improvements have been made in the field of Li-S rechargeable batteries, they are still far from reaching the market place due to several drawbacks. To combat the solubility of polysulphides, confinement approaches aiming to trap sulphur within the cathode side have been pursued, but success has been limited. Herein, we drastically deviate from this approach and use a liquid cathode obtained either by dissolving polysulphides within the electrolyte or by placing sulphur powders in contact with the Li negative electrode. Such approaches are shown to result in greater performance than confinement approaches. Such a strategy eliminates the detrimental Li 2S formation inside a porous carbon matrix and moreover leads to the formation of a protective SEI layer at the Li electrode, as deduced by impedance spectroscopy and XPS, which seems beneficial to the cell cycling performance. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013