Synergistic effects of mixing sulfone and ionic liquid as safe electrolytes for lithium sulfur batteries

Chen Liao, Bingkun Guo, Xiao Guang Sun, Sheng Dai

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

A strategy of mixing both an ionic liquid and sulfone is reported to give synergistic effects of reducing viscosity, increasing ionic conductivity, reducing polysulfide dissolution, and improving safety. The mixtures of ionic liquids and sulfones also show distinctly different physicochemical properties, including thermal properties and crystallization behavior. By using these electrolytes, lithium sulfur batteries assembled with lithium and mesoporous carbon composites show a reversible specific capacity of 1265 mAhg-1 (second cycle) by using 40% 1.0m lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in N-methyl-Npropylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide with 60% 1.0 m LiTFSI in methylisopropylsulfone in the first cycle. This capacity is slightly lower than that obtained in pure 1.0 m LiTFSI as the sulfone electrolyte; however, it exhibits excellent cycling stability and remains as high as 655 mAhg-1 even after 50 cycles. This strategy provides a method to alleviate polysulfide dissolution and redox shuttle phenomena, at the same time, with improved ionic conductivity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)353-360
Number of pages8
JournalChemSusChem
Volume8
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2015

Keywords

  • Electrochemistry
  • Ionic liquids
  • Lithium-sulfur batteries
  • Polymers
  • Sulfones

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Synergistic effects of mixing sulfone and ionic liquid as safe electrolytes for lithium sulfur batteries'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this