Quantitative Analysis of Electrochemical and Electrode Stability with Low Self-Discharge Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

The viability of employing high-capacity sulfur cathodes in building high-energy-density lithium–sulfur batteries is limited by rapid self-discharge, short shelf life, and severe structural degradation during cell resting (static instability). Unfortunately, the static instability has largely been ignored in the literature. We present in this letter a long-term self-discharge study by quantitatively analyzing the control lithium–sulfur batteries with a conventional cathode configuration, which provides meaningful insights into the cathode failure mechanisms during resting. Utilizing the understanding obtained with the control cells, we design and present low self-discharge (LSD) lithium–sulfur batteries for investigating the long-term self-discharge effect and electrode stability.