Organotrisulfide: A High Capacity Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries.

Wu, Min; Cui, Yi; Bhargav, Amruth; Losovyj, Yaroslav; Siegel, Amanda; Agarwal, Mangilal; Ma, Ying; Fu, Yongzhu

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 Li2S. The lithium cell with DMTS catholyte delivers an initial specific capacity of 720 mAh g−1DMTS 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.

SULFUR compounds; CATHODES; LITHIUM cells; OXIDATION-reduction reaction; ELECTROLYTES

Angewandte Chemie, 2016, Vol 128, Issue 34, p10181

0044-8249

Academic Journal

10.1002/ange.201603897