Lithium batteries that could be charged on exposure to sunlight will bring exciting new energy storage technologies. Here, we report a photorechargeable lithium battery employing nature-derived organic molecules as a photoactive and lithium storage electrode material. By absorbing sunlight of a desired frequency, lithiated tetrakislawsone electrodes generate electron–hole pairs. The holes oxidize the lithiated tetrakislawsone to tetrakislawsone while the generated electrons flow from the tetrakislawsone cathode to the Li metal anode. During electrochemical operation, the observed rise in charging current, specific capacity, and Coulombic efficiency under light irradiation in contrast to the absence of light indicates that the quinone-based organic electrode is acting as both photoactive and lithium storage material. Careful selection of electrode materials with optimal bandgap to absorb the intended frequency of sunlight and functional groups to accept Li-ions reversibly is a key to the progress of solar rechargeable batteries.

An electrocatalytic cathode surface in a Li−sulfur cell can alleviate intrinsic issues such as polysulfide shuttling by improving their adsorption and the reaction kinetics. Herein, we carried out fundamental electrochemical studies on the sulfur−electrocatalyst interface to develop a suitable catalytic cathode. The potentiodynamic and potentiostatic methodologies were used to infer diffusion, adsorption, and kinetic behaviors of polysulfides with respect to catalytic and noncatalytic interfaces. Also, we have demonstrated the influence of catalyst on solid-to-liquid and liquid-to-solid polysulfides reaction kinetics and their effect on Li 2 S nucleation ending up in gaining high capacity during the discharge process. In addition, we have explained in detail the impact of catalytic interface on cathode surfaces as well as on the reversibility of sulfur redox chemistry.

We report a simple ambient pressure annealing technique for the synthesis of ultrathin niobium disulfide (NbS2) nanoflakes.

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