Progress Towards Commercially Viable Li-S Battery Cells

A broad overview of how experimental parameters affect the performance of Li-S batteries is presented here, extending the view on these batteries beyond sophisticated conductive sulfur hosts, which have been the primary focus of many studies in recent years. The exquisite sensitivity of the Li-S system to various experimental parameters speaks to the importance of directing future research towards the entire Li-S-battery set-up, rather than just some components. The main overall goal should be to produce cells with high specific energy and energy density. These are challenging tasks and more work is required, in particular in the area of cell engineering. The achievements spotlighted in this report show that outstanding results can be obtained by suitably engineering cathodes and other cell parts, without the need to use advanced structured hosts for sulfur. A lot of stimulating, original and successful research has been done recently in the field, leading to satisfying Li-S battery performances and paving the way for more applied research, with the goal of entering a pre-application phase in Li-S battery development.