Promoting Granular Lithium Sulfide Growth by Soft Acidic-Hard Basic Ionomer Binder for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Hyunseok Moon, Myeong Hwa Ryou, Anseong Park, Bo Quan Li, Ha Neul Kim, Namjun Park, Eunbyoul Lee, Kyung Yoon Chung, Jia Qi Huang*, Taeeun Yim*, Won Bo Lee*, Sang Young Lee*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Electrode passivation limits the reversibility of lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. Pivoting from the prevailing approaches that focus on electrode active materials and electrolytes, herein, we introduce a class of S electrode binders based on soft acidic-hard basic (SAHB) ionomers. The SAHB binder contains a soft cation (tetraallyl ammonium ion, TA+) paired with a hard counteranion (nitrate, NO3-), allowing matched interactions with Li polysulfides (LiPS) via soft acid-soft base (TA+-Sx2-) and hard base-hard acid (NO3--Li+) pairings. This intermolecular coupling retards LiPS diffusion, promoting three-dimensional granular Li sulfide (Li2S) growth, guided by a high Damköhler number (Da). Consequently, the SAHB binder enables a Li-S cell to achieve a high specific capacity of 1545 mAh gsulfur-1 (corresponding to 92.3% S utilization) and stable capacity retention (71.5% after 300 cycles at a current density of 1 C), outperforming previously reported S electrode binders.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1654-1663
Number of pages10
JournalACS Energy Letters
Volume10
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 11 Apr 2025

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