Thin Film Carbon-Sulfur Cathodes by Electrophoretic Deposition for a Prototype Lithium Sulfur Battery System

The present study reports on the fabrication of thin-film nanocomposites of activated carbon-sulfur prepared by electrophoretic deposition onto titanium plates, as cathode materials for a prototype battery. A key aspect of this study is the deposition process, which provides a uniform and fine highly porous microstructure for the cathode. The electrophoretic process is simple, less energy intensive with more control of the C-S ratios and particle sizes than some of the reported methods. The study investigates the performance of this cathode material against a pre-lithiated silicon anode as well as against conventional Li foil anodes. With the conventional Li anodes the results (an energy density of about 690 +/- 10 W h kg(-1)) are comparable to those currently in the literature for full cells. With pre-lithiated Si anodes, the electrophoretic architecture gives improved voltages and improved cycling stability compared to other studies where complex C-S architectures are used, and this appears to be related in part to lower S dissolution in these deposited structures. Overall, the results indicated the strength of the simple electrophoretic process for preparation of the carbon-sulfur cathode material.