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Research Article

Boosting sulfur redox kinetics by a pentacenetetrone redox mediator for high-energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries

Yan-Qi Peng1,2, Meng Zhao1,2, Zi-Xian Chen1,2, Qian Cheng1,2, Yiran Liu1,2, Xi-Yao Li3, Yun-Wei Song3, Bo-Quan Li1,2( ), Jia-Qi Huang1,2( )
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
Beijing Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Reaction Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Graphical Abstract

5,7,12,14-pentacenetetrone (PT) is proposed as an effective redox mediator to promote the sulfur redox kinetics under practical working conditions. The practicality of PT is verified in practical 2.5 Ah level Li-S pouch cells with an actual initial energy density of 344 Wh·kg−1.

Abstract

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is considered as a promising energy storage system due to its ultrahigh theoretical energy density of 2,600 Wh·kg−1. Redox mediation strategies have been proposed to promote the sluggish sulfur redox kinetics. Nevertheless, the applicability of redox mediators in practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries has seldomly been manifested. In this work, 5,7,12,14-pentacenetetrone (PT) is proposed as an effective redox mediator to promote the sulfur redox kinetics under practical working conditions. A high initial specific discharge capacity of 993 mAh·g−1 is achieved at 0.1 C with high-sulfur-loading cathodes of 4.0 mgS·cm−2 and low electrolyte/sulfur (E/S) ratio of 5 μL·mgS−1. More importantly, practical Li-S pouch cells with the PT mediator realize an actual initial energy density of 344 Wh·kg−1 and cycle stably for 20 cycles wih a high capacity retention of 88%. This work proposes an effective redox mediator and further verifies the redox mediation strategy for practical high-energy-density Li-S batteries.

Keywords

lithium-sulfur batterieslithium polysulfidesredox mediationsulfur redox kineticspouch cells

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Nano Research
Volume 16 Issue 6,
June 2023
Pages 8253-8259
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4584-z
Cite this article:
Peng Y-Q, Zhao M, Chen Z-X, et al. Boosting sulfur redox kinetics by a pentacenetetrone redox mediator for high-energy-density lithium-sulfur batteries. Nano Research, 2023, 16(6): 8253-8259. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4584-z
Topics:
Batteries
Part of a topical collection:
Conversion Reaction Lithium Metal Batteries

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Received: 21 March 2022
Revised: 12 May 2022
Accepted: 26 May 2022
Published: 21 June 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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