Polysulfide solubility in the electrolyte has a critical role to the Li-S battery but the mechanism study on the solubility needs to be carefully carried out. In this paper we found that lithium 2-trifluoromethyl-4,5-dicyanoimidazole (LiTDI) reveals a suppression of the polysulfide solubility in electrolytes (relative to the most widely used electrolyte formulation) and the Li-S cells achieved homogeneous stable capacity retention upon extensive cycling and Li metal deposition on the anode. Combined experimental, simulation and calculation methods suggest the dominate disproportionation product of Li2S8 is Li2S4 in the LiTDI electrolyte due to a different interaction between lithium ion and TDI anion. The Li2S4 would continuesly form a Li4S8 dimer and be fully locallized to precipitate out. The use of the electrolyte with the LiTDI salt (with polysulfide and LiNO3 additives) enabled a cell with a high sulfur (3 mg-S cm-2) loading to deliver a 1.67 mAh cm-2 areal capacity after 300 stable cycles at a high current (2.4 mA cm-2) density.
Revised: December 15, 2016 |
Published: March 29, 2016