Arumugam Manthiram

Metal-sulfur batteries offer tremendous advantages compared to lithium-ion batteries in terms of cost and energy density as sulfur is abundant, inexpensive, and environmentally benign, and both sulfur cathode and metal anodes offer much higher capacities. However, the practical viability of metal-sulfur batteries is hampered by poor cycle life and low energy density in practical cells. To overcome the challenges, this presentation will focus on approaches to stabilize the cathode and anode as well as their interfaces with electrolyte. Accordingly, the presentation will first present the effect of incorporating a small amount of tellurium into sulfur or Li₂S cathode or LiTe₃ into electrolyte. The substitution of Te into polysulfides to form polytellurosulfides, followed by a deposition on Li metal of Li₂TeS₃ with a low-diffusion barrier for Li⁺, stabilizes lithium-metal deposition and the cyclability of anode-free cells with Li₂S cathode. Then, the presentation will focus on the manufacturing of catalyst-integrated sulfur-carbon composites with facile, scalable approaches. Finally, the presentation will transition to employ some of the understanding gained with lithium-sulfur batteries to sodium-sulfur batteries. Stabilized sodium-sulfur cells with novel electrolyte design and intercalation-type catalyst-incroporated sulfur cathodes will be presented.