Advanced Lithium Sulfur Battery

As tactical and deployed electrical power demands increase for soldiers, there is a commensurate need to increase the energy density of military batteries (i.e. man portable power) to ease the weight burden additional power capacity entails. Lithium-sulfur batteries, as replacement for current lithium ion batteries, are a promising advancement with theoretical specific energy of 2600Wh/kg and demonstrated specific energy of 300 to 550Wh/kg. With the specific energy potential of the Li-S chemistry, implementation in a variety of standard configurations could significantly reduce battery and/or pack weight and size. However, Li-S batteries still require maturation to harness their potential. The most significant issues affecting Li-S batteries are related to the dissolution of sulfur in the cathode and migration of lithium polysulfides in organic liquid electrolyte used in the cell, resulting in reduced sulfur utilization and capacity fading over time/cycling. The proposed work seeks to develop Li-S cell materials that address these challenges to enable high energy density storage.