Boosting Li–S battery performance using an in-cell electropolymerized conductive polymer

Abstract

A convenient in-cell electropolymerization method is developed to prepare a conductive polymer, PEDOT, as a cathode binder inside a Li–S cell for the enhancement of the cell performance.

Polymer design for solid-state batteries and wearable electronics

“… 187 This is promising for the future commercialisation of polythiophene-based technologies. There are also examples of in situ polythiophene synthesises using electro-polymerisation strategies 188 and a recent report of degradable conjugate polymer backbones via cleavable imine bonds. 187 Such opportunities for controlled and in situ approaches alongside end-of-life options bring conjugated polymers more on par with the controlled polyester/carbonate synthesises above, where the polymerisation conditions are mild and ester/carbonate bonds are readily hydrolysable.…”

Electropolymerisation Technologies for Next-Generation Lithium–Sulphur Batteries

“…adding monomers to the LiSB electrolyte, which differed from ex situ EP technologies for cathodes [34,35]. Additionally, Shi et al proposed the use of N-methylaniline as an electrolyte additive in LiSBs (Figure 5c) [34].…”

“…LiSBs fabricated using this polymer (S-loading = 0.9-1.1 mg cm −2 ) showed significantly improved specific capacity, cycling stability, and rate performance compared with LiSBs without a conductive polymer and with an analogous commercial PEDOT:PSS binder in the cathode. The improvements in battery performance were attributed to the well-integrated interfaces between EDOT and other cathode materials, such as carbon conductive agents and sulphur active materials, where the LPSs trapped by PEDOT were arranged in close proximity to the carbon conductive agent to achieve efficient charge transfer [35]. Yu et al fabricated a freestanding cathode composed of MoS3/PPy nanowires deposited on a porous current collector using a two-step electrochemical method (Figure 5b) [33].…”

“…Li is well known as one of the most promising materials for anodes, owing to its ultrahigh capacity (3860 mAh g −1 ) and extremely low standard negative electrochemical potential [34,35]. However, LPS shuttles can corrode the surface of Li via the formation of a Li 2 S layer on the Li surface, thus resulting in low Coulombic efficiency and Li−S batteries with short cycle lives.…”