Uncontrolled growth of insulating lithium sulfide leads to passivation of sulfur cathodes, which limits high sulfur utilization in lithium-sulfur batteries. Sulfur utilization can be augmented in electrolytes based on solvents with high Gutmann Donor Number; however, violent lithium metal corrosion is a drawback. Here we report that particulate lithium sulfide growth can be achieved using a salt anion with a high donor number, such as bromide or triflate. The use of bromide leads to ~95 % sulfur utilization by suppressing electrode passivation. More importantly, the electrolytes with high-donor-number salt anions are notably compatible with lithium metal electrodes. The approach enables a high sulfur-loaded cell with areal capacity higher than 4 mA h cm−2 and high sulfur utilization ( > 90 %). This work offers a simple but practical strategy to modulate lithium sulfide growth, while conserving stability for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries.

Despite the theoretically high energy density, the practical energy density of Li-S batteries at the moment does not meet the demand due to low sulfur (S) loading (<2 mg cm −2 ), large electrolyte amount (electrolyte/sulfur ratio >20 µL mg −1 ), and excess lithium (Li) metal use (>10 times excess). [5] In particular, large electrolyte usage (flooding) greatly diminishes the practical energy density of Li-S batteries. Due to the intrinsic solution-based redox chemistry, however, many of the challenges arise from minimizing the electrolyte/ sulfur ratio (E/S ratio). Since soluble lithium polysulfide (LiPS, Li 2 S x when 2 < x ≤ 8) intermediates are self-redox mediating, the decrease in the LiPS dissolution causes a sluggish sulfur conversion and high polarization. [6] Next, the morphology of lithium sulfide (Li 2 S) electrodeposition and the kinetics of the re-oxidation are affected by the sulfur species solubility as well. [7] Hence, uncontrolled precipitation and continual accumulation of Li 2 S limit the discharge capacity and further passivate the cathode interface throughout the cycling. [8] Reducing the electrolyte volume exacerbates not only the cathode performance but also the anode stability. A high reactivity and an infinite volume change of the Li metal anode cause the incessant decomposition of the electrolyte. Therefore, the lean electrolyte condition accelerates the increase of the cell resistance and provokes earlier performance failure compared to the flooding electrolyte system. [9] Manipulating electrolyte materials (solvents, salt anions, and additives) has a considerable impact on the electrochemical performance of Li-S batteries. There have been studies in which solvents with high Gutmann donor numbers (DNs) form strong interactions with lithium ions (Li + ) and promote the solvation of polysulfide (PS) anions. The increased LiPS solubility facilitates the solution-mediated reaction pathway, enabling fast reaction kinetics and high sulfur utilization. [10] Furthermore, the same merits can also be achieved with salt anions having high-DNs [11] or additives promoting ionic solvation. [12] Under a lean electrolyte regime, the role of highly solvating electrolytes becomes more prominent because of the limited solubility of sulfur species. For example, high-DN solvents can enhance the sulfur utilization under the reduced electrolyte amount by promoting the charge/discharge reactions. [13] Despite this fact, the Minimizing electrolyte use is essential to achieve high practical energy density of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. However, the sulfur cathode is more readily passivated under a lean electrolyte condition, resulting in low sulfur utilization. In addition, continuous electrolyte decomposition on the Li metal anode aggravates the problem, provoking rapid capacity decay. In this work, the dual functionalities of NO 3 − as a high-donor-number (DN) salt anion is presented, which improves the sulfur utilization and cycling stability of lean-electrolyte Li-S batteries. The NO 3 − anion eleva...

Aqueous Zn–Br batteries (ZBBs) offer promising next‐generation high‐density energy storage for energy storage systems, along with distinctive cost effectiveness particularly in membraneless and flowless (MLFL) form. Unfortunately, they generally suffer from uncontrolled diffusion of corrosive bromine components, which cause serious self‐discharge and capacity fade. An MLFL‐ZBB is presented that fundamentally tackles the problem of bromine crossover by converting bromine to the polybromide anion using protonated pyridinic nitrogen doped microporous carbon decorated on graphite felt (NGF). The NGF electrodes efficiently capture bromine and polybromide anions at the abundant protonated nitrogen dopant sites within micropores and facilitate effective conversion of bromine into polybromides through electrochemical–chemical growth mechanism. The MLFL‐ZBBs with NGF exhibit an extraordinary stability over 1000 charge/discharge cycles, with an energy efficiency over 80%, the highest value ever reported among membraneless Zn–Br batteries. Judicious engineering of an atomistically designed nanostructured electrode offers a novel design platform for low cost, high voltage, long‐life cycle aqueous hybrid Zn–Br batteries.

Highly reversible aqueous zinc anodes are demonstrated via suppressing surface diffusion of Zn adatoms from strong orbital hybridization of the Zn adatoms and single vacancy defects.

The long-term cycling of anode-free Li-metal cells (i.e., cells where the negative electrode is in situ formed by electrodeposition on an electronically conductive matrix of lithium sourced from the positive electrode) using a liquid electrolyte is affected by the formation of an inhomogeneous solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on the current collector and irregular Li deposition. To circumvent these issues, we report an atomically defective carbon current collector where multivacancy defects induce homogeneous SEI formation on the current collector and uniform Li nucleation and growth to obtain a dense Li morphology. Via simulations and experimental measurements and analyses, we demonstrate the beneficial effect of electron deficiency on the Li hosting behavior of the carbon current collector. Furthermore, we report the results of testing anode-free coin cells comprising a multivacancy defective carbon current collector, a LixNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1-based cathode and a nonaqueous Li-containing electrolyte solution. These cells retain 90% of their initial capacity for over 50 cycles under lean electrolyte conditions.

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