https://twitter.com/monashengineers/status/1437241226525220864
Led by Prof Mainak Majumder, our researchers have found the key to
stabilising new lithium-sulfur battery technology by using a glucose-based
additive, a find that could one day enable EVs to travel from Melb-Syd on a
single charge
@MonashEnergy
@CSIRO
来自澳洲的研究，锂硫电池理论能量密度高达 2,700Wh/kg，基本上是现行锂离子电池
3-5 倍，若科学家研发成功，人们未来就不用每天帮手机充电了，且电池原材料“硫”
相当丰富，也不用担心材料供应问题。
其中锂硫电池的阴极主要成分为硫，不过有鉴于硫没有导电性，科学家会在其上覆涂一层
碳，亦或是花大钱利用碳奈米纤维、奈米碳管等新技术开辟电子传导路径。
然而不幸的是，目前大多锂硫电池的寿命相当低，科学家得解决锂电极易生成晶枝、反应
副产物多硫化物阻碍锂离子移动等问题，这样一来才能让锂硫电池迈向大规模商业化。
澳洲的研究发现在硫阴极加糖可以免于硫化合物污染，电池在充放电时收缩膨胀率也
下降，实验原型的加糖电池已经可以连续充放电超过一千次了！
In theory, lithium-sulfur batteries could store two to five times more energy
than lithium-ion batteries of the same weight. The problem has been that, in
use the electrodes deteriorated rapidly, and the batteries broke down. There
were two reasons for this—the positive sulfur electrode suffered from
substantial expansion and contraction weakening it and making it inaccessible
to lithium, and the negative lithium electrode became contaminated by sulfur
compounds.
Last year the Monash team demonstrated they could open the structure of the
sulfur electrode to accommodate expansion and make it more accessible to
lithium. Now, by incorporating sugar into the web-like architecture of the
electrode they have stabilized the sulfur, preventing it from moving and
blanketing the lithium electrode.
Test-cell prototypes constructed by the team have been shown to have a
charge-discharge life of at least 1000 cycles, while still holding far more
capacity than equivalent lithium-ion batteries. "So each charge lasts longer,
extending the battery's life," says first author and Ph.D. student Yingyi
Huang. "And manufacturing the batteries doesn't require exotic, toxic, and
expensive materials."