Pre-Embedded Iodine Improves Solid-State Lithium-Sulfur Battery Charging Speed and Cycle Life
azom.comResearchers report a way to improve solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries by embedding iodine alongside sulfur in porous carbon. The iodine acts as a redox mediator, helping sulfur convert more quickly and maintaining better contact across solid-solid interfaces. In lab tests, cells kept 81 to 92 percent of their initial capacity after thousands of cycles, with faster charging at high C-rates. The work is still at an early stage. Most long cycling tests used small custom pressure cells, and a full cell test ran fewer cycles. Cost, manufacturing, and negative electrode stability remain open questions. Still, the high-loading results suggest the approach is not limited to thin laboratory cathodes, which matters for eventual stationary storage use.