Understanding glass fiber membrane used as a novel separator for lithium–sulfur batteries

Glass fiber (GF) membrane is evaluated as a potential separator for lithium–sulfur batteries. It is found that GF membrane has a highly porous structure with superior thermal stability, resulting in high liquid electrolyte uptake and enhanced electrochemical performance. Li–S cells using GF membrane...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of membrane science 2016-04, Vol.504, p.89-96
Main Authors: Zhu, Jiadeng, Yanilmaz, Meltem, Fu, Kun, Chen, Chen, Lu, Yao, Ge, Yeqian, Kim, David, Zhang, Xiangwu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anodes
Anodic protection
Current density
Electrolytic cells
Glass fiber
Glass fibers
High capacity
Lithium sulfur batteries
Membranes
Rate capability
Separators
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Summary:Glass fiber (GF) membrane is evaluated as a potential separator for lithium–sulfur batteries. It is found that GF membrane has a highly porous structure with superior thermal stability, resulting in high liquid electrolyte uptake and enhanced electrochemical performance. Li–S cells using GF membrane as the separator can retain a capacity of 617mAhg−1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.2C, which is 42% higher than that of cells using commercial microporous polypropylene separator. During rate capability tests, the capacity of Li–S cells using GF membrane decreases slowly from the reversible capacity of 616mAhg−1 at 0.2C to 505, 394 and 262mAhg−1 at 0.5C, 1C, and 2C, respectively. It should be noted that these cells can still deliver a high capacity of 587mAhg−1 with a high retention of 95% when the current density is lowered back to 0.2C. The improved cycling and rate performance are ascribed to the fact that the highly porous GF membrane can increase the intake of soluble polysulfide intermediates and slow down their rapid diffusion to the Li anode side, which can not only improve the utilization of active material, but help protect the Li anode surface as well. Lithium–sulfur batteries have received intense attention due to their high theoretical capacity of 1675mAhg−1. However, the severe capacity fading of current lithium–sulfur batteries limits their practical application. In this manuscript, a novel separator, glass fiber membrane, is used to achieve high and stable performance of Li–S batteries, enhancing their commercial viability. [Display omitted] •Glass fiber (GF) membrane is presented as a novel separator for Li–S batteries.•High porous GF separator enables superior thermal stability and ionic conductivity.•Excellent cycling stability and rate capability are obtained for Li–S cells with GF.•The unique GF separator structure can slow down the diffusion of polysulfides.
ISSN:0376-7388
1873-3123
DOI:10.1016/j.memsci.2016.01.020