Progress and perspective of organosulfur polymers as cathode materials for advanced lithium-sulfur batteries

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery offers a superior alternative to currently commercial lithium-ion batteries because of high energy density, low cost and satisfying safety. However, during the battery operation, the shuttle effect seriously destroys the battery cycle life and leads to serious capacity degeneration. In recent years, copolymerization strategy, in which elemental sulfur is melted to linear polysulfane and then copolymerized with polymerizable linker monomer to form stable organosulfur polymers, is believed as an innovative and effective method to improve the stability of Li-S batteries. Due to the strong covalent bonds between sulfur and copolymer framework, the polysulfides dissolution could be effectively suppressed upon cycling. This paper reviews some recent efforts on the organosulfur copolymers as cathode materials of Li-S battery. Based on these considerations, some remaining challenges and the perspective of the copolymers on Li-S system are also discussed.