Organotrisulfide: A High Capacity Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Min Wu; Yi Cui; Amruth Bhargav; Yaroslav Losovyj; Amanda Siegel; Mangilal Agarwal; Ying Ma; Yongzhu Fu

doi:10.1002/anie.201603897

Organotrisulfide: A High Capacity Cathode Material for Rechargeable Lithium Batteries

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2016 Aug 16;55(34):10027-31. doi: 10.1002/anie.201603897. Epub 2016 Jul 13.

Authors

Min Wu¹, Yi Cui¹, Amruth Bhargav¹, Yaroslav Losovyj², Amanda Siegel^{3

4}, Mangilal Agarwal^{1

3}, Ying Ma⁵, Yongzhu Fu^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.
² Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
³ Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute (INDI), Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.
⁵ Materials Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI, 54702, USA.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA. [email protected].
⁷ Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute (INDI), Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA. [email protected].

PMID: 27411083
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201603897

Abstract

An organotrisulfide (RSSSR, R is an organic group) has three sulfur atoms which could be involved in multi-electron reduction reactions; therefore it is a promising electrode material for batteries. Herein, we use dimethyl trisulfide (DMTS) as a model compound to study its redox reactions in rechargeable lithium batteries. With the aid of XRD, XPS, and GC-MS analysis, we confirm DMTS could undergo almost a 4 e(-) reduction process in a complete discharge to 1.0 V. The discharge products are primarily LiSCH3 and Li2 S. The lithium cell with DMTS catholyte delivers an initial specific capacity of 720 mAh g(-1) DMTS and retains 82 % of the capacity over 50 cycles at C/10 rate. When the electrolyte/DMTS ratio is 3:1 mL g(-1) , the reversible specific energy for the cell including electrolyte can be 229 Wh kg(-1) . This study shows organotrisulfide is a promising high-capacity cathode material for high-energy rechargeable lithium batteries.

Keywords: cathode materials; dimethyl trisulfide; organotrisulfides; rechargeable lithium batteries; redox reactions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.