Applications and Challenges of Lithium-Sulfur Electrochemical Batteries

This paper presents applications of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) energy storage batteries, while showing merits and demerits of several techniques to mitigate their electrochemical challenges. Unmanned aerial vehicles, electric cars, and grid-scale energy storage systems represent main applications of Li-S batteries due to their low cost, high specific capacity, and light weight. However, polysulfide shuttle effects, low conductivities, and low coulombic efficiencies signify key challenges of Li-S batteries, causing high volumetric changes, dendritic growths, and limited cycling performances. Solid-state electrolytes, inter-facial interlayers, and electrocatalysts denote promising methods to mitigate such challenges. Moreover, nanomaterials have capability to improve kinetic reactions of Li-S batteries based on several properties of nanoparticles to immobilize sulfur in cathodes, stabilizing lithium in anodes while controlling volumetric growths. Li-S energy storage technologies are able to satisfy requirements of future markets for advanced rechargeable batteries with high-power densities and low costs, considering environmentally friendly systems based on renewable energy sources.