A review on separators for lithium-sulfur battery: Progress and prospects

Lithium-sulfur battery is considered as one of high performance batteries of the new generation owing to its extremely high theoretical capacity, energy density, good environmental protection and low cost. These features make it of great significance to serve as the next-generation battery especially in electric vehicles and portable devices. However, the practical application of lithium-sulfur battery is still hindered due to some obstacles including the low electrical and ionic conductivity of elemental sulfur, the discharge product Li2S and the shuttle effect caused by the dissolved polysulfide species. In this review, the current trends, fundamental studies and developments for lithium-sulfur battery separators including some modified functional and novel battery separators with the customized structure designs are presented and reviewed. The effects of different selections and the resulting properties of the separators affecting the overall lithium-sulfur battery performances are discussed as well. The current research directions and challenges associated with the use of battery separator and the future perspectives for this class of the battery separator are concluded as well. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.