Oxygen heteroatom enhanced sulfur-rich polymers synthesized by inverse vulcanization for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

Wang, Haoran, Zhang, Bowen ORCID: 0000-0002-9129-5793, Dop, Romy ORCID: 0000-0002-3903-7236, Yan, Peiyao, Neale, Alex R ORCID: 0000-0001-7675-5432, Hardwick, Laurence J ORCID: 0000-0001-8796-685X and Hasell, Tom ORCID: 0000-0003-4736-0604 (2022) Oxygen heteroatom enhanced sulfur-rich polymers synthesized by inverse vulcanization for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries. JOURNAL OF POWER SOURCES, 545. p. 231921.

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.231921

Abstract

Sulfur-rich polymers, synthesized through inverse vulcanization, with tunable heteroatom containing crosslinkers were investigated as the S-containing cathode active material within Li–S cells. The polymers possess up to 73% active sulfur while, importantly, not containing any unreacted, crystalline sulfur. Li–S-polymer cells achieve specific capacities of 1206 mAh gs−1 for an active material polymer containing 80 wt% sulfur, with 10 wt% of a structural crosslinker (dicyclopentadiene), and 10 wt% of an oxygen-containing crosslinker (ethylene glycol dimethacrylate). The high capacity achieved within this composition is associated with of this sample, in a higher average sulfur rank within the polymer structure. Furthermore, S-polymers with heteroatomic crosslinkers exhibited lower capacity fade (0.093% per cycle) compared with polymers without functionalized heteroatomic crosslinkers (0.165% per cycle) and elemental sulfur (0.312% per cycle). X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed the inherent binding between the ester group carbonyl oxygen within the crosslinker to the long-chain lithium polysulfides, which may inhibit dissolution of these intermediates.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Chemical confinement, Inverse vulcanization, Li-S cells, Oxygen heteroatoms, Sulfur-rich polymers
Divisions:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Physical Sciences
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	13 Sep 2022 10:01
Last Modified:	18 Jan 2023 20:45
DOI:	10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.231921
Open Access URL:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2022.231921
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3164508