Xinbo Zhang and Limin Wang, researchers at the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a paper in Chemical Communications on 12 October entitled A Stable Sulfone Based Electrolyte for High Performance Rechargeable Li-O2 Batteries. In the paper’s abstract, the authors write:
“The rechargeable non-aqueous lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) battery is an extremely attractive technology for electrical energy storage because theoretically its specific energy far exceeds the best that can be achieved with lithium-ion cells, but its operation is still seriously hindered by the inadequacy of electrolytes. Herein, tetramethylene sulfone (TMS)-based electrolyte is first proposed for rechargeable Li-O2 batteries and, without any catalysts, superior battery performances are successfully obtained, including high capacity, round-trip efficiency as well as good cycle performance which can be enhanced further with an optimised cathode.
“The expected Li-O2 dominate in discharge product and its reversibility is confirmed. Furthermore, the underlying mechanism why sulfone is superior over sulfoxide is analysed. The obtained promising results would open new and exciting avenues for the development of rechargeable Li-O2 battery.”
