Organotrisulfide: A High Capacity Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Abstract

An organotrisulfide (RSSSR, R is an organic group) has three sulfur atoms which could be involved in multi-electron reduction reactions; therefore it is a promising electrode material for batteries. Herein, we use dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) as a model compound to study its redox reactions in rechargeable lithium batteries. With the aid of XRD, XPS, and GC-MS analysis, we confirm DMTS could undergo almost a 4 e(-) reduction process in a complete discharge to 1.0 V. The discharge products are primarily LiSCH3 and Li2 S. The lithium cell with DMTS catholyte delivers an initial specific capacity of 720 mAh g(-1) DMTS and retains 82 % of the capacity over 50 cycles at C/10 rate. When the electrolyte/DMTS ratio is 3:1 mL g(-1) , the reversible specific energy for the cell including electrolyte can be 229 Wh kg(-1) . This study shows organotrisulfide is a promising high-capacity cathode material for high-energy rechargeable lithium batteries.

Recent Advances in Applying Vulcanization/Inverse Vulcanization Methods to Achieve High‐Performance Sulfur‐Containing Polymer Cathode Materials for Li–S Batteries

“…f) Possible redox reaction of DMTS in a rechargeable lithium cell. Reproduced with permission . Copyright 2016, Wiley‐VCH.…”

“…Recently, the same group prepared a hybrid Li–S battery containing fibrous SPAN and a dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) liquid cathode . DMTS has shown potential as a cathode material and has a theoretic capacity of 849 mAh g −1 for lithium batteries calculated based on a four‐electron reduction reaction (Figure f) . The researchers proposed new electrochemical reaction mechanisms for the Li/DMTS/SPAN cells.…”

Computer Simulation of Cathode Materials for Lithium Ion and Lithium Batteries: A Review

“…Many reported studies utilize an E/S ratio of 10 lL mg À1 or higher, which leads to a low gravimetric energy density that cannot compete with commercial LIBs. [14] Recently, a number of organosulfur cathodes with high energy density and low E/S ratio have been demonstrated, including dimethyl trisulfide, [154] bis(aryl) tetrasulfides, [155] diphenyl trisulfide, [23] and pentamethylene thiuram tetrasulfide. A possible solution to minimize the E/S ratio while maintaining good electrochemical performance is to use small-chain sulfur molecules that are stabilized by organic functional groups.…”

Chemical Immobilization Effect on Lithium Polysulfides for Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

“…The organic polymers have widely been used for polysulfide immobilization due to abundant function groups on their surface and long chain . According to the former reports on conductive polymers (polyaniline (PAN), polythiophene (PTh), and PPy), proton doping is usually adopted because protons could perform as bridges to connect the polysulfide anions to polymers via H‐bonds.…”

“…Three main electrochemical immobilizing effects can be summarized in brief: polar interaction, strong chemical bonds, and the electrocatalytic effect. Although great development of LSBs has achieved, there still exist great challenges for the commercial application of LSBs in the future, and some suggestions are described in the following: (1) Design on Host Materials for LSB Cathodes : Aiming at solving the problems and obstacles for LSB cathodes, the suggestions are given as follows. (i) poor conductivity: To improve the low conductivity of electron and Li + , incorporation of conducting or semiconducting materials with sulfur is an effective way.…”