Scientists build ion-selective membrane for ultra-stable lithium sulfur batteries
Advanced energy storage systems are highly desired to fill the gap between currently available battery systems and high performance electronic devices or even electric vehicles. As the commonly-used lithium ion battery systems are approaching their theoretical energy density value, lithium-sulfur batteries are considered to be one promising candidate, exhibiting much higher theoretical energy density at 2600 Wh/kg (around 3-5 times that of the lithium ion batteries). However, the practical applications of lithium-sulfur batteries are hindered by the complexity of this electrochemical system, especially the insulate nature of sulfur and the so called "shuttle effect", which means the diffusion and reaction of the cathode intermediate polysulfide with the anode side.