Development and costs calculation of lithium-sulfur cells with high sulfur load and binder free electrodes

A binder free thick film sulfur cathode based on a carbon structure with carbon nano tubes (CNT) is introduced. The sulfur mass can be varied between 3 and 20 mg cm(-2) electrode leading to sulfur loads that are several times as high as in slurry electrodes. The electrode structure and thickness is examined by SEM, the surface area measured by BET and the in-plane conductivity is determined by a modified 4-point measurement. The achieved capacities for these extremely high sulfur loads are around 900 mAh g(-1) sulfur at a current of 0.64 mA cm(-2) electrode. Additionally the price of future Li-S cells (18650), both conventional sulfur slurry cathode and here introduced binder free CNT sulfur cathode were calculated and compared with a lithium-ion system (NCA-graphite). (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.