Lithium-Sulfur Achieves New Highs

Dean Sigler Electric Powerplants, Sustainable Aviation Leave a Comment

Allen Chen at the University of California at Berkeley reports that researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) “have demonstrated in the laboratory a lithium-sulfur (Li/S) battery that has more than twice the specific energy of lithium-ion batteries, and that lasts for more than 1,500 cycles of charge-discharge with minimal decay of the battery’s capacity,” the longest cycle life reported so far for any lithium-sulfur battery. Working on the premise that if electric vehicles are to have a 300-mile range, researchers explain that batteries will need to provide a cell-level specific energy of 350 to 400 Watt-hours per kilogram (Wh/kg), roughly double that of lithium-ion batteries. They should also manage at least 1,000, and preferably 1,500 charge-discharge cycles before showing noticeable power loss. Elton Cairns, of the Environmental Energy Technologies Division (EETD), is a professor at Berkeley in the The Berkeley Energy Storage and Conversion for Transportation and Renewables (BESTAR) Program.  Part of their purpose …