Ultra-lightweight rechargeable battery with enhanced gravimetric energy densities >750 Wh kg in lithium-sulfur pouch cell.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) rechargeable batteries have been expected to be lightweight energy storage devices with the highest gravimetric energy density at the single-cell level reaching up to 695 Wh kg, having also an ultralow rate of 0.005 C only in the first discharge. Sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) is one of the sulfur-based active materials, which allows more freedom in the Li-S cell design because it shows no undesirable reactions with electrolyte solutions. Here we present an original Li-S pouch cell construction, ADEKA's Lithium-Sulfur/Pouch Cell (ALIS-PC). It is an ultra-lightweight rechargeable battery cell, which is designed by combining the SPAN cathode and effective ten technologies involving chemical engineering. As a result, the highest gravimetric energy densities of 713 and 761 Wh kg after some charge-and-discharge cycles, which were based on the total mass of all cell components, were achieved with successful operating at 0.1 and 0.05C-rates, respectively, significantly exceeding those of commercial lithium-ion and next-generation rechargeable batteries in development.