PNNL

In the quest for longer-lasting lithium rechargeable batteries, some researchers are looking to use sulfur as electrodes. The chemistry of lithium-sulfur, in theory, could allow electric vehicles to go twice as far as conventional batteries. But, in practice, unwanted chemical reactions clog the electrodes quickly, meaning a short lifespan for the batteries as their ability to hold a charge fades.

Now, researchers have gotten the best look yet at what's going on when a lithium-sulfur battery is charging and discharging. First they had to adapt a laboratory instrument to trap the products of the unwanted chemical reactions. But then the team saw how the components of the batteries — electrodes and the liquid electrolytes that help create the electric current — interact and form an interfering layer on the electrodes.

Understanding how the layer builds up might help scientists solve the lithium-sulfur fading problem, which could lead to more affordable batteries. "Sulfur is significantly cheaper than current cathode materials in lithium-ion batteries," said researcher Vijay Murugesan of the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. "So the total cost of a lithium-sulfur battery will be low."

Find out here what the team from PNNL, Texas A&M University, and DOE's Joint Center for Energy Storage Research learned when they combined computational modeling with data from the modified instrument. Some of the work they performed in EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a DOE Office of Science user facility located at PNNL.