An Elastic, Conductive, Electroactive Nanocomposite Binder for Flexible Sulfur Cathodes in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Craig Milroy; Arumugam Manthiram

doi:10.1002/adma.201601665

An Elastic, Conductive, Electroactive Nanocomposite Binder for Flexible Sulfur Cathodes in Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Adv Mater. 2016 Nov;28(44):9744-9751. doi: 10.1002/adma.201601665. Epub 2016 Sep 22.

Authors

Craig Milroy¹, Arumugam Manthiram¹

Affiliation

¹ McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.

PMID: 27717072
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201601665

Abstract

A conductive, elastic, electroactive binder composed of polypyrrole and polyurethane is adopted for flexible, high-loading lithium-sulfur cathodes. The conductivity of the polypyrrole helps mitigate the negative effects of insulating sulfur, and the elastomeric matrix accommodates sulfur volume expansion. The binder is used with a simple carbon/sulfur composite to produce high-performance, flexible electrodes without excessive carbon, interlayers, or special additives.

Keywords: electroactive binders; energy storage; flexible electrodes; lithium-sulfur batteries.