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
來自澳洲的研究，鋰硫電池理論能量密度高達 2,700Wh/kg，基本上是現行鋰離子電池
3-5 倍，若科學家研發成功，人們未來就不用每天幫手機充電了，且電池原材料「硫」
相當豐富，也不用擔心材料供應問題。
其中鋰硫電池的陰極主要成分為硫，不過有鑑於硫沒有導電性，科學家會在其上覆塗一層
碳，亦或是花大錢利用碳奈米纖維、奈米碳管等新技術開闢電子傳導路徑。
然而不幸的是，目前大多鋰硫電池的壽命相當低，科學家得解決鋰電極易生成晶枝、反應
副產物多硫化物阻礙鋰離子移動等問題，這樣一來才能讓鋰硫電池邁向大規模商業化。
澳洲的研究發現在硫陰極加糖可以免於硫化合物汙染，電池在充放電時收縮膨脹率也
下降，實驗原型的加糖電池已經可以連續充放電超過一千次了！
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."