A Rechargeable Al/S Battery with an Ionic‐Liquid Electrolyte |
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| Authors: | Tao Gao Xiaogang Li Xiwen Wang Dr. Junkai Hu Fudong Han Dr. Xiulin Fan Dr. Liumin Suo Alex J Pearse Prof. Sang Bok Lee Prof. Gary W. Rubloff Dr. Karen J Gaskell Dr. Malachi Noked Prof. Chunsheng Wang |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Chemical and Bimolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA;2. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA;3. Department of Material Science and Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA |
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| Abstract: | Aluminum metal is a promising anode material for next generation rechargeable batteries owing to its abundance, potentially dendrite‐free deposition, and high capacity. The rechargeable aluminum/sulfur (Al/S) battery is of great interest owing to its high energy density (1340 Wh kg?1) and low cost. However, Al/S chemistry suffers poor reversibility owing to the difficulty of oxidizing AlSx. Herein, we demonstrate the first reversible Al/S battery in ionic‐liquid electrolyte with an activated carbon cloth/sulfur composite cathode. Electrochemical, spectroscopic, and microscopic results suggest that sulfur undergoes a solid‐state conversion reaction in the electrolyte. Kinetics analysis identifies that the slow solid‐state sulfur conversion reaction causes large voltage hysteresis and limits the energy efficiency of the system. |
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| Keywords: | aluminum/sulfur batteries electrochemistry ionic liquids solid-state reactions sulfur |
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