Development of operando XRD coin cells for lithium-sulfur batteries

• Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries has been regarded as one of the promising technology for the next generation of rechargeable batteries due to its high theoretical energy density (2600 Wh/kg [1]). Several works [2–7] on operando X-ray diffraction (XRD) of the Li-S system have been published; however, their experimental setups showed one or more of the following drawbacks. First, the amount of electrolyte was often not reported or would be considered too high for a common Li-S cell, which has been demonstrated to have a significant impact on the behavior of the system [8]. Another issue is the non-uniform stack pressure and electron conductivity of the operando cell setup, whose effects were found by both experiments and simulations [9].This work aims to tackle with the above-mentioned issues by modifying commercial coin cells and using X-ray transparent metal, beryllium, as the spacers. By doing so, the electron conductivity and stack pressure can be expected to be uniform throughout the electrodes. The amount of electrolyte can also be precisely controlled since no vacuum-sealing is required for coin cells. A preliminary diffraction pattern obtained with the cell setup can be seen in Fig. 1. With electrochemical properties similar to common Li-S cells, ‘online’ electrochemical characterization techniques, e.g. Intermittent Current Interruption (ICI) method for following cell resistance [10], will be applicable with operando XRD, revealing more information about this complex system.Figure 1 XRD patterns of alpha-S and electrode material in the modified coin cell.References[1] J. Tan, et al., Nanoscale (2017) 19001–19016.[2] J. Nelson, et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 (2012) 6337–6343.[3] N.A. Cañas, et al., J. Power Sources 226 (2013) 313–319.[4] S. Waluś, et al., Chem. Commun. 49 (2013) 7899.[5] M. a. Lowe, et al., RSC Adv. 4 (2014) 18347.[6] J. Kulisch, et al., Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 16 (2014) 18765–18771.[7] J. Conder, et al., Nat. Energy 2 (2017) 1–7.[8] M.J. Lacey, ChemElectroChem (2017) 1–9.[9] O.J. Borkiewicz, et al., J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 6 (2015) 2081–2085.[10] M.J. Lacey, et al., Chem. Commun. 51 (2015) 16502–16505.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Oorganisk kemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Inorganic Chemistry (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

lithium-sulfur

operando X-ray diffraction

online resistance measurement

Chemistry with specialization in Inorganic Chemistry

Kemi med inriktning mot oorganisk kemi

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