Electrochemical Energy Storage with a Reversible Nonaqueous Room‐Temperature Aluminum–Sulfur Chemistry |
| |
| Authors: | Xingwen Yu Arumugam Manthiram |
| |
| Affiliation: | Materials Science & Engineering Program and Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA |
| |
| Abstract: | A reversible room‐temperature aluminum–sulfur (Al‐S) battery is demonstrated with a strategically designed cathode structure and an ionic liquid electrolyte. Discharge–charge mechanism of the Al‐S battery is proposed based on a sequence of electrochemical, microscopic, and spectroscopic analyses. The electrochemical process of the Al‐S battery involves the formation of a series of polysulfides and sulfide. The high‐order polysulfides (Sx2?, x ≥ 6) are soluble in the ionic liquid electrolyte. Electrochemical transitions between S62? and the insoluble low‐order polysulfides or sulfide (Sx 2?, 1 ≤ x < 6) are reversible. A single‐wall carbon nanotube coating applied to the battery separator helps alleviate the diffusion of the polysulfide species and reduces the polarization behavior of the Al‐S batteries. |
| |
| Keywords: | aluminum– sulfur batteries electrochemistry energy storage ionic liquids polysulfides |
|
|
