Lithiated Nafion as polymer electrolyte for solid-state lithium sulfur batteries using carbon-sulfur composite cathode

Due to flexible property and light weight, the lithiated Nafion membrane swollen with PC(PC-Li-Nafion) has been employed as both solid-state electrolyte and separator to fabricate solid-state Li-S cells. The electrochemical measurements of PC-Li-Nafion membrane show that its Li-ion transference number is 0.928, ionic conductivity of 2.1 x 10(-4) S cm(-1) can be achieved at 70 degrees C and its electrochemical window is 0 similar to +4.1 V vs. Li+ /Li. It is observed that the Li dendrites are suppressed by using PC-Li-Nafion membrane due to its single-ion conducting property. The amounts of Li-Nafion resin binder and conductive carbon in the cathode are optimized as 40% and 10% respectively to make a balance of ionic and electronic conductivities. A thin-layer Li-Nafion resin with a thickness of around 2 pm is fabricated between the cathode and PC-Li-Nafion membrane to improve the interfacial contact and further enhance the specific capacity of the cell. When measured at 70 degrees C, the Li-S cell delivers a reversible specific capacity of 1072.8 mAh g(-1) (S) at 0.05 C and 895 mAh g(-1) (S) at 1 C. The capacity retention at 1 C is 89% after 100 cycles. These results suggest that high-performance solid-state Li-S cells can be fabricated with the Li-Nafion polymer electrolyte.