Lithium-Sulfur Battery The Next Generation Battery
Dec 28, 2022
The rechargeable batteries can be classified right into numerous types depending on its chemistry materials. At present, lead-acid, nickel-cadmium(NiCd), nickel-metal hydride(NiMH) and lithium-ion batteries are extensively utilized rechargeable batteries in daily life.
However, as the demand for rechargeable batteries is increasing especially in the fields of electric automobile and energy storage system, the world requires a next-generation battery to satisfy the increasing demand. Among a variety of alternatives, one of the most prospective one is the lithium-sulfur battery.
Different from lithium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries use lithium metal as the anode, organic liquid electrolyte, and sulfur composite as the cathode. Lithium-ion batteries working principle is lithium ions transfer between the cathode and anode, whereas the working principle of lithium-sulfur batteries is the gradual transition of sulfur as the illustration below.
Lithium-sulfur batteries have many advantages, lower cost made from more economical sulfur material. Almost twice more energy density than lithium-ion batteries, because sulfur cathode and lithium anode possess higher capacity, the energy density can be even double to (>500Wh/kg). Much more environment-friendly battery chemistry without rare metals like cobalt or nickel.
LG Energy Solution utilized lithium-sulfur battery in an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) in 2020. The test flight lasted for 13 hours to demonstrate that lithium-sulfur battery is of stable performance and huge prospect.
During Battery Day 2021, LG Energy Solution announced its plans to commercialize lithium-sulfur batteries at beginning 2025. Lithium-sulfur batteries are anticipated to utilize in the Urban Air Mobility (URM) as typical application, which implies flying cars we only see in science fiction movies may become a reality sooner than we assume.