Strategy for High-Energy Li–S Battery Coupling with a Li Metal Anode and a Sulfurized Polyacrylonitrile Cathode

Among lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery materials, sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) has attracted substantial attention as a cathode material owing to its potential to bypass the problematic polysulfide formation and shuttling effect. Carbonate-based electrolytes have been eschewed compared with ether-based electrolytes because of their poor compatibility with Li metal anodes. In this work, we design and study an electrolyte comprising 0.8 M of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide, 0.2 M of lithium difluoro(oxalate)borate, and 0.05 M of lithium hexafluorophosphate in ethyl methyl carbonate/fluoroethylene carbonate = 3:1 v/v solution in the Li-S battery coupled with a Li metal anode and SPAN cathode. The well-designed carbonate-based electrolyte effectively stabilizes both electrodes, delivering high Coulombic efficiencies with stable cyclability. Studies using operando optical microscopy and atomic force microscopy demonstrate that dense, uniform Li deposition is promoted to suppress dendrite growth even at a high current density. Operando Raman spectroscopy reveals a reversible Li⁺ storage behavior in the SPAN structure through the cleavage of disulfide bonds and their redimerization during lithiation and delithiation. As a result, the proposed Li-S battery delivers an overall capacity retention of 73.5% over 1000 cycles, with high Coulombic efficiencies over 99.9%.