Radical or Not Radical: Revisiting Lithium-Sulfur Electrochemistry in Nonaqueous Electrolytes

Abstract

Tracking down trisulfur radical in lithium-sulfur batteries is reported. In nonaqueous electrolytes, dissociation of polysulfide dianions to radicals, and particularly trisulfur S3·-, is believed to play a key role in the performance of lithium sulfur batteries. While S3·- exists in only minor concentration in glymes, exacerbated dissociation in donor solvents allows full utilization of both sulfur and lithium sulfide.