Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
A special issue of Batteries (ISSN 2313-0105).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 January 2019) | Viewed by 8458
Special Issue Editor
Interests: energy conversion and storage materials; metal-sulfur batteries; SOFC
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Lithium-sulfur batteries store and discharge energy using a reversible conversion reaction that has no restrictions in maintaining the initial crystal chemistry of the materials during cells’ electrochemical cycling. Such an electrochemical conversion reaction enables the sulfur cathodes to have a high theoretical capacity of 1675 mA h g-1. Moreover, elemental sulfur offers the advantages of low cost and high natural abundance, allowing the lithium-sulfur battery to be a strong candidate for next-generation energy storage devices featuring a high energy density at an affordable operation cost.
As a novel energy-storage technology, the true potential or the full challenges of lithium-sulfur batteries are not yet clear, and there is a lack of practical analysis and investigation. The battery performances of the lithium-sulfur system suffer low sulfur utilization, poor cyclability, and severe self-discharge. These challenges essentially result from the intrinsic material limitations. The insulating nature of sulfur and its end-discharge products, lithium sulfides, causes sluggish reaction kinetics. The discharge/charge reactions at the sulfur cathode involve complex conversions among solid sulfur, liquid polysulfides, and solid sulfides. The successive physicochemical changes of the active material and the electrolyte lead to the consumption of electrolyte and the irreversible diffusion of soluble polysulfides, which affect the efficiency and reversibility of the cathode redox reaction. A result of the intrinsic material problems is that the electrochemical efficiency and stability of lithium-sulfur batteries are significantly determined by the extrinsic cell-fabrication parameters, such as the amount of sulfur and electrolyte used in the batteries. Therefore, this Special Issue, “Lithium-Sulfur Batteries”, will focus on the materials, cell designs, and battery engineering in understanding the fundamental importance of these factors when designing practical lithium-sulfur batteries.
Potential topics include, but are not limited to:
- Electrode materials and electrolytes for lithium-sulfur batteries;
- Electrode and electrode-substrate design;
- High-loading sulfur cathode;
- Low electrolyte/sulfur ratio;
- Performance lifetime and degradation studies.
Dr. Sheng-Heng Chung
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Batteries is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- lithium-sulfur batteries
- sulfur loading
- sulfur content
- electrode/sulfur ratio
- electrode design
- cycle life
- self-discharge
- lithium-anode stability
- cell-failure mechanism
- degradation
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.