J. Delafuente
Graphenea Inc.,
United States
Keywords: graphene, graphene oxide, CVD, synthesis, scale-up, Li/S, energy storage
Summary:
Beyond today’s incumbent technology, and among the many next-generation battery options, Lithium-sulfur is leading the way due to initially simpler manufacturing, lower costs, and good performance. Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries use a metallic lithium anode and a sulfur-based cathode with various proposed electrolytes Advantages: · Specific energy is higher than Li-ion batteries · Sulfur is cheap and abundant Challenges: · Cathode volume expansion and cracking is a safety concern · Capacity fade limits cycle life to about 100 cycles for most developers, due to polysulfide side reactions Graphene Opportunity Graphene offers an opportunity as hosting in Li-S cathode: S/graphene composite. In GO/sulfur composites, graphene plays a significant role in improving the electronic conductivity of sulfur, inhibiting the shuttle effect of soluble polysulfides and accommodating the large volume change of sulfur during the lithiation/delithiation processes.