A high performance all solid state lithium sulfur battery with lithium thiophosphate solid electrolyte

Abstract

Li–S batteries have attracted significant research efforts due to its high energy-density; however, the lithium–sulfur battery is plagued with many challenges, most notably the dissolution of lithium-polysulfides into the liquid, organic electrolyte during the reduction of sulfur as well as the dendritic growth of lithium during charging. By switching to a solid-state electrolyte, the dissolution of lithium polysulfides is eliminated. Alloy-anodes, such as indium-lithium, are commonly used in solid-state, Li–S battery research due to the challenges of using lithium metal with solid electrolytes. This work shows that the onset of lithium dendrite growth is strongly affected by the conductivity of the solid electrolyte. More importantly, we demonstrate the feasibility of a lithium–sulfur battery with high utilization of sulfur and stable capacity-retention with a lithium-metal anode.