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Published September 2021 | Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Understanding and mitigating mechanical degradation in lithium–sulfur batteries: additive manufacturing of Li₂S composites and nanomechanical particle compressions

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries are poised to outcompete lithium-ion batteries in key sectors such as transportation and grid storage due to the low cost and high theoretical energy density of sulfur as a cathode material. Widespread implementation of this technology is hindered by significant degradation during cycling, including mechanical failure via cracking or detachment of insulating lithium sulfide (Li₂S) from the conductive matrix in the cathode, causing irreversible capacity fade. We developed a technique to additively manufacture Li₂S composites to fabricate rationally designed cathodes and demonstrate the utility of a three dimensionally architected Li₂S composite cathode in a battery. We additionally measure the yet unknown material properties and deformation mechanisms of Li₂S powders via in situ scanning electron microscope (SEM) nanomechanical experiments. Measuring these mechanical properties is a first step towards understanding the process of mechanical degradation and is necessary to enable the rational design of high energy density, long-cycling, and mechanically robust sulfur cathodes.

Additional Information

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Materials Research Society 2021. Received 22 January 2021; Accepted 19 March 2021; Published 09 April 2021. The authors would like to acknowledge the following people: Professor K. See for productive discussions, use of the glovebox, and coin cell materials. J. H. Kang for assistance with TGA. C. Ma for assistance with SEM/EDS. H. Zhang and B. Edwards for assistance with nanomechanical measurements. This work was supported by the Resnick Sustainability Institute. Data availability: The data and code generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Author Contributions: MAS and JRG conceived of and designed the experiments. MAS performed the experiments. MAS and JRG wrote the manuscript. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Created:
August 22, 2023
Modified:
October 23, 2023