Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Advances and Trends

Abstract

<jats:p>A review with 132 references. Societal and regulatory pressures are pushing industry towards more sustainable energy sources, such as solar and wind power, while the growing popularity of portable cordless electronic devices continues. These trends necessitate the ability to store large amounts of power efficiently in rechargeable batteries that should also be affordable and long-lasting. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries have recently gained renewed interest for their potential low cost and high energy density, potentially over 2600 Wh kg−1. The current review will detail the most recent advances in early 2020. The focus will be on reports published since the last review on Li-S batteries. This review is meant to be helpful for beginners as well as useful for those doing research in the field, and will delineate some of the cutting-edge adaptations of many avenues that are being pursued to improve the performance and safety of Li-S batteries.</jats:p>

Inverse vulcanization of octenyl succinate-modified corn starch as a route to biopolymer–sulfur composites

“…Through this process materials have been developed for a multitude of applications including IR transparent lenses, cathodes for lithium-sulfur batteries, and materials for oil spill remediation and mercury capture. [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] More recently, novel strategies have been implemented for inverse vulcanization at reduced temperatures as well as for processing/recycling [23][24][25][26] HSMs prepared by inverse vulcanization. [27][28][29][30][31] Similar HSMs can be prepared from the reaction of aryl halides or anisole derivatives with sulfur as well, although polymerization of these monomers proceeds via different mechanisms than simple inverse vulcanization.…”

Robust, remeltable and remarkably simple to prepare biomass–sulfur composites

“…Inverse vulcanization is a process in which olefins are crosslinked upon their reaction with thermally-generated sulfur radicals (Scheme 2) and has proven quite versatile to prepare high sulfur-content materials (HSMs) from both naturally-occurring and synthetic olefin crosslinkers. [8][9][10][11] Such high sulfur-content materials can be used in a variety of applications including thermal imaging, batteries, structural materials and water purification, driving the development of innovative synthetic and processing approaches. Significant advances have been made in lowering the reaction temperature and controlling curing of HSMs through the use of prepolymers, 23 ternary systems 15 or catalysts.…”

Sequential crosslinking for mechanical property development in high sulfur content composites

“…High sulfur-content materials (HSMs) can be conveniently prepared by the reaction of elemental sulfur with olefins by inverse vulcanization (InV) [1][2][3] or from aryl halides by radical-induced aryl halide-sulfur polymerization (RASP, Scheme 1). [4][5][6] HSMs produced by these routes have been proposed for applications such as electrode materials, [7][8][9][10][11][12] lenses for thermal imaging, [13] fertilizers [14,15] absorbents for removing toxins from water, [16][17][18][19][20][21] or as structural materials [22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] and thermal insulators. [30,31] The InV mechanism proceeds when olefins are crosslinked by their reaction with sulfur radicals produced by heating elemental sulfur to >159 C. RASP involves thermal reaction of aryl halides with elemental sulfur whereby S C aryl bonds are formed, a process requiring slightly higher temperatures of 220-250 C.…”