Project R-12003

Functionally Graded Electrodes for Long-Life Lithium-Sulfur Batteries (Research)

FUGELS wants to accelerate maturation and penetration of a promising battery technology, i.e., lithium-sulfur (LSB), into the battery market. The need for such a new battery technology seems inevitable given the capacity limitation (i.e., Wh/kg), sustainability issue, and high cycle-cost ($/Wh-cycle) of storage in state-of-the-art (SOA) lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). Higher capacities and lower cycle costs are the key for wide deployment of batteries in: residential & stationary storage, heavy-duty transport, and new applications such as drones, and unmanned aerial vehicles. LSBs are potentially lighter and less expensive options than any other batteries on the market; roughly speaking, they can be more than two times lighter than SOA lithium-ion batteries, storing the same amount of energy. The global reserves of sulfur is almost limitless (i.e., 600 billion tons) and LSBs are expected to be less expensive (Sulfur price < 0.2 US$/kg) than their lithium-ion battery counterparts (250 $/kWh). A premature end of life is the biggest obstacle to wide penetration of LSBs into the battery market. LSBs suffer from a significant rate of aging, i.e., the available capacity fades away in less than hundreds of cycles (limited commercial prototypes are already available for drones with 50-100 cycle life). FUGELS aims to increase the specific energy and life-time of LSBs by developing novel sulfur and lithium electrode architectures. To do so, a synergy between a variety of coating and deposition methods such as wet-chemical solution, atmospheric plasma technology, electrodeposition, atomic layer deposition, and slurry-based coating is set forth to prepare novel sulfur and lithium electrodes. The consortium is composed of researchers from UHasselt, UGent, UAntwerp, Vito, IMEC, and IMOMEC.

01 September 2021 - 31 August 2025