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The expansion of lithium-ion batteries from consumer electronics to larger-scale transport and energy storage applications has made understanding the many mechanisms responsible for battery degradation increasingly important. The literature in...

Batteries that extend performance beyond the intrinsic limits of Li-ion batteries are among the most important developments required to continue the revolution promised by electrochemical devices. Of these next-generation batteries, lithium sulfur (Li–S) chemistry is among the most commercially mature, with cells offering a substantial increase in gravimetric energy density, reduced costs and improved safety prospects. However, there remain outstanding issues to advance the commercial prospects of the technology and benefit from the economies of scale felt by Li-ion cells, including improving both the rate performance and longevity of cells. To address these challenges, the Faraday Institution, the UK’s independent institute for electrochemical energy storage science and technology, launched the Lithium Sulfur Technology Accelerator (LiSTAR) programme in October 2019. This Roadmap, authored by researchers and partners of the LiSTAR programme, is intended to highlight the outstanding issues that must be addressed and provide an insight into the pathways towards solving them adopted by the LiSTAR consortium. In compiling this Roadmap we hope to aid the development of the wider Li–S research community, providing a guide for academia, industry, government and funding agencies in this important and rapidly developing research space.

During the operation of a Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) cell, structural changes take place within both positive and negative electrodes. During discharge, the sulfur cathode expands as solid products (mainly Li2S or Li2S/Li2S2) are precipitated on its surface, whereas metallic Li anode contracts due to Li oxidation/stripping. The opposite processes occur during charge, where Li anode tends to expand due to lithium plating and solid precipitates from the cathode side are removed, causing its thickness to decrease. Most research literature describe these processes as they occur within single electrode cell constructions. Since a large format Li-S pouch cell is composed of multiple layers of electrodes stacked together, and antagonistic effects (i.e. expansion and shrinkage) occur simultaneously during both charge and discharge, it is important to investigate the volumetric changes of a complete cell. Herein, we report for the first time the thickness variation of a Li-S pouch cell prototype. In these studies we used a laser gauge for monitoring the cell thickness variation under operation. The effects of different voltage windows as well as discharge regimes are explored. It was found that the thickness evolution of a complete pouch cell is mostly governed by Li anodes volume changes, which mask the response of the sulfur cathodes. Interesting findings on cell swelling when cycled at slow currents and full voltage windows are presented. A correlation between capacity retention and cell thickness variation is demonstrated, which could be potentially incorporated into Battery Management System (BMS) design for Li-S batteries

A B S T R A C TThis paper presents probabilistic estimates of the 2020 and 2030 cost and cycle life of lithium-ion battery (LiB) packs for off-grid stationary electricity storage made by leading battery experts from academia and industry, and insights on the role of public research and development (R&D) funding and other drivers in determining these. By 2020, experts expect developments to arise chiefly through engineering, manufacturing and incremental chemistry changes, and expect additional R&D funding to have little impact on cost. By 2030, experts indicate that more fundamental chemistry changes are possible, particularly under higher R&D funding scenarios, but are not inevitable. Experts suggest that significant improvements in cycle life (eg. doubling or greater) are more achievable than in cost, particularly by 2020, and that R&D could play a greater role in driving these. Experts expressed some concern, but had relatively little knowledge, of the environmental impact of LiBs. Analysis is conducted of the implications of prospective LiB improvements for the competitiveness of solar photovoltaic + LiB systems for off-grid electrification.

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Silicon has been an attractive alternative to graphite as an anode material in lithium ion batteries (LIBs). The development of better silicon electrodes and optimization of their operating conditions for longer cycle life require a quantitative understanding of the lithiation/delithiation mechanisms of silicon and how they are linked to the electrode behaviors. Herein we present a zero-dimensional mechanistic model of silicon anodes in LIBs. The model, for the first time, considers the multi-step phase transformations, crystallization and amorphization of different lithium-silicon phases during cycling while being able to capture the electrode behaviors under different lithiation depths. Based on the model, a linkage between the underlying reaction processes and electrochemical performance is established. In particular, the two sloping voltage plateaus at low lithiation depth are correlated with two electrochemical phase transformations and the emergence of the single broad plateau at high lithiation depth is correlated with the amorphization of c-Li15Si4. The model is then used to study the effects of crystallization rate and surface energy barriers, which clarifies the role of surface energy and particle size in determining the performance behaviors of silicon. The model is a necessary tool for future design and development of high-energy-density, longer-life silicon-based LIBs.

There is no universal and quantifiable standard to compare a given cell model’s capability to reject heat. The consequence of this is suboptimal cell designs because cell manufacturers do not have a metric to optimise. The Cell Cooling Coefficient for pouch cell tab cooling (CCC tabs ) defines a cell’s capability to reject heat from its tabs. However, surface cooling remains the thermal management approach of choice for automotive and other high-power applications. This study introduces a surface Cell Cooling Coefficient, CCC surf which is shown to be a fundamental property of a lithium-ion cell. CCC surf is found to be considerably larger than CCC tabs , and this is a trend anticipated for every pouch cell currently commercially available. However, surface cooling induces layer-to-layer nonuniformity which is strongly linked to reduced cell performance and reduced cell lifetime. Thus, the Cell Cooling Coefficient enables quantitative comparison of each cooling method. Further, a method is presented for using the Cell Cooling Coefficients to inform the optimal design of a battery pack thermal management system. In this manner, implementation of the Cell Cooling Coefficient can transform the industry, by minimising the requirement for computationally expensive modelling or time consuming experiments in the early stages of battery-pack design.