Development of stable lithium metal anode systems for high energy density lithium-sulfur batteries

锂硫(Li-S)电池是最有希望取代传统锂离子电池技术的竞争者之一，因为它们潜在的低成本、高质量比能量和更可持续的生产。虽然在过去5-10年里，在实现这些优势方面取得了重大进展，但锂-S技术仍受到许多挑战的阻碍，需要解决这些挑战才能使其成功商业化。这些挑战中的几个，如硫的电绝缘性、S转化为Li2S时的大体积变化以及转化过程中中间体的溶解性，可以通过创造先进的复合材料来抑制，包括使用高比表面积的石墨烯添加剂-NanoXplore规模化生产的材料。然而，与锂金属负极快速降解相关的挑战仍然有待解决。拟议的合作研究计划的目标是解决与高活性金属锂负极相关的挑战。该团队试图开发一种石墨烯增强的玻璃碳夹层，将反应阳极与电解液分开。这种选择性渗透膜将促进锂离子在阳极和电解液之间的快速传输，防止电解液与锂金属直接反应。该项目的成功有望带来重量轻3至4倍但能量相同的可充电电池。这将扩大各种技术的范围，如区域无人机、电动飞机和电动汽车，这些技术将显著受益于减轻重量。它还将通过使用丰富而廉价的硫作为正极材料来降低电池成本，并减少我们对不道德的钴开采做法的依赖。从加拿大石墨中提取的石墨烯在大批量应用中的使用将带来显著的经济增长，而电动汽车等绿色技术的进一步支持也将带来整个加拿大都将感受到的环境效益。

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries are one of the most promising contenders to replace conventional Li-ion battery technology due to their potentially low cost, high mass-specific energy, and more sustainable production. While significant progress has been made in the last 5-10 years towards realizing these advantages, Li-S technology is hampered by many challenges that need to be addressed to enable their successful commercialization. Several of these challenges such as the electrically insulating nature of sulfur, the large volume change upon conversion of S to Li2S and the solubility of intermediates during this conversion can be suppressed by creating advanced composite materials including the use of high surface area graphene-based additives - A material which NanoXplore produces at scale. However challenges associated with the rapid degradation of the lithium metal anode remain to be solved.The goal of the proposed collaborative research program is to address the challenges associated with highly reactive lithium metal anode. The team seeks to develop a graphene-reinforced glassy carbon interlayer that separates the reactive anode from the electrolyte. This selectively permeable membrane will facilitate the rapid transport of Li-ions between the anode and electrolyte preventing the electrolyte from reacting with the Li metal directly. The success of this project is expected to lead to rechargeable batteries that are 3 to 4 times lighter but contain the same amount of energy. This would extend the range of various technologies such as areal drones, electric aircraft, and electric vehicles that benefit significantly from reduced weight. It will also decrease battery costs by using abundant and inexpensive sulfur as the cathode material and decrease our reliance on unethical cobalt mining practices. The use of graphene derived from Canadian graphite in high volume applications will lead to significant economic growth, while the further enabling of green technologies such as electric vehicles will also lead to environmental benefits that will be felt across Canada.