Materials Science: Providing a longer life for lithium-sulphur batteries

A long life lithium-sulphur battery that uses a novel egg-shell structure for cathode materials is reported in Nature Communications this week. The creation of this new electrode architecture could pave the way for future development of high-performance rechargeable batteries.

Sulphur is a promising cathode material with a high theoretical battery capacity, but the practical performance of lithium-sulphur batteries is currently hindered because sulphur dissolves over time. Yi Cui and coworkers develop a novel cathode nanoarchitecture with expandable sulphur centres protected by metal-oxide shells, which hold active materials effectively. The resulting batteries show a high initial battery capacity close to its theoretical prediction and are capable of over 1,000 charge/discharge cycles, which represents the best performance for lithium-sulphur batteries so far.