Polymers in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries

Qing Zhang, Qihua Huang, Shu Meng Hao, Shuyi Deng, Qiming He, Zhiqun Lin, Yingkui Yang

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

94 Scopus citations

Abstract

Lithium–sulfur batteries (LSBs) hold great promise as one of the next-generation power supplies for portable electronics and electric vehicles due to their ultrahigh energy density, cost effectiveness, and environmental benignity. However, their practical application has been impeded owing to the electronic insulation of sulfur and its intermediates, serious shuttle effect, large volume variation, and uncontrollable formation of lithium dendrites. Over the past decades, many pioneering strategies have been developed to address these issues via improving electrodes, electrolytes, separators and binders. Remarkably, polymers can be readily applied to all these aspects due to their structural designability, functional versatility, superior chemical stability and processability. Moreover, their lightweight and rich resource characteristics enable the production of LSBs with high-volume energy density at low cost. Surprisingly, there have been few reviews on development of polymers in LSBs. Herein, breakthroughs and future perspectives of emerging polymers in LSBs are scrutinized. Significant attention is centered on recent implementation of polymers in each component of LSBs with an emphasis on intrinsic mechanisms underlying their specific functions. The review offers a comprehensive overview of state-of-the-art polymers for LSBs, provides in-depth insights into addressing key challenges, and affords important resources for researchers working on electrochemical energy systems.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2103798
JournalAdvanced Science
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 14 Jan 2022

Bibliographical note

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© 2021 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH

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