The energy storage capacity of new sugar doped lithium sulfur batteries can be five times that of existing lithium-ion batteries

According to foreign media reports, among many exciting chemicals in the next generation of batteries, lithium sulfur batteries are a chemical with great potential because their energy storage capacity is five times that of current lithium-ion batteries. Australian scientists have proposed a new design for this promising structure, which includes solving inherent stability issues by adding sugar. It is reported that this move has resulted in the experimental battery running more than 1000 times.

Although the high capacity of lithium sulfur batteries has been a mainstream application that scientists have been striving to develop, they have always been hindered by stability issues. Due to the expansion and contraction of the positive sulfur electrode in the battery during charging, it will be subjected to significant pressure and rapidly deteriorate. At the same time, the negative electrode is contaminated by sulfur compounds.

Last year, a battery research team at Monash University in Melbourne came up with a solution that solved half of this problem. This group of scientists has developed a special adhesive that can create additional space around sulfur particles, which means they have more space to safely expand during charging. The result of doing so is a high-capacity lithium sulfur battery that can be cycled over 200 times.

Now, scientists are targeting the other side of the equation, the negative lithium electrode, which is "suffocated" by sulfur. This breakthrough originated from a study conducted in 1988, which showed that some sugar based substances can prevent the degradation of geological sediments and promote strong bonds between sulfides.

The goal of scientists is to apply this method to lithium sulfur batteries to prevent sulfur chains (known as polysulfides) from being released from the positive electrode, which often move and form moss on the negative electrode. The research team introduced a sugar based additive into the network structure of the electrode as a binder to form a network microstructure, which can help regulate the behavior of unwanted polysulfides. The experimental battery carrying sugar additives shows a capacity of approximately 700 mAh/g and can maintain 1000 cycles.

Yingyi Huang, the first author and doctoral student of this study, said, "This way, each charge can last longer, extending the lifespan of the battery. Moreover, manufacturing batteries does not require strange, toxic, or expensive materials."

There are still some issues that need to be addressed before lithium sulfur batteries are applied to smartphones and electric vehicles. Researchers have stated that their technology has the potential to store 2 to 5 times the energy of current lithium batteries, and through this new study, they believe they have taken a crucial step towards real-world applications.

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