Revitalising sodium-sulfur batteries for non-high-temperature operation: a crucial review

Rechargeable sodium-sulfur (Na-S) batteries are regarded as a promising energy storage technology due to their high energy density and low cost. High-temperature sodium-sulfur (HT Na-S) batteries with molten sodium and sulfur as cathode materials were proposed in 1966, and later successfully commerc...

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Published inEnergy & environmental science Vol. 13; no. 11; pp. 3848 - 3879
Main Authors Wang, Yizhou, Zhou, Dong, Palomares, Veronica, Shanmukaraj, Devaraj, Sun, Bing, Tang, Xiao, Wang, Chunsheng, Armand, Michel, Rojo, Teófilo, Wang, Guoxiu
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 12.11.2020
Subjects
Cathodes
Commercialization
Electrode materials
Electrolytes
Energy storage
Flux density
High temperature
Maintenance costs
Molten salt electrolytes
Operating costs
Rechargeable batteries
Room temperature
Safety
Sodium
Solid electrolytes
Storage batteries
Sulfur
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Summary:Rechargeable sodium-sulfur (Na-S) batteries are regarded as a promising energy storage technology due to their high energy density and low cost. High-temperature sodium-sulfur (HT Na-S) batteries with molten sodium and sulfur as cathode materials were proposed in 1966, and later successfully commercialised for utility-scale stationary energy storage. However, their high working temperature (300-350 °C) causes some detrimental problems such as high operating costs, difficulties of maintenance (corrosion), and severe safety issues. In particular, HT Na-S batteries with Na polysulfides as the final discharge product only deliver about a third of the sulfur's theoretical capacity. These drawbacks greatly limited the broader applications of HT Na-S batteries. In recent years, extensive efforts have been devoted to developing next-generation intermediate-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries (IMT Na-S, operating at 120-300 °C) and room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries (RT Na-S) with higher capacity, lower maintenance cost and enhanced safety. Herein, we provide a comprehensive review of the latest progress on IMT Na-S and RT Na-S batteries. We elucidate the working principles, opportunities and challenges of these non-high-temperature Na-S battery systems, and summarise the advances in the battery components including cathodes, anodes, electrolytes, and other battery constituents. In particular, the applications of solid-state electrolytes in IMT Na-S and RT Na-S chemistry are emphasised. The remaining challenges and clear perspectives are outlined for the future development of novel high-performance Na-S batteries. We review the working mechanisms, opportunity and challenges of intermediate-temperature and room-temperature sodium-sulfur batteries for low-cost energy storage.
Bibliography:Prof. Michel Armand has been the Directeur de Recherche at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) since 1989 and Professor at University of Montreal (1995∼2004). He pioneered several theoretical concepts and practical applications in the field of energy-related electrochemistry. He ushered the concept of intercalation compounds (inorganic 1972, organic 1996) and the proposition of polymer electrolytes for battery application (1978), followed by the introduction of new families of highly conductive salts (perfluoroimides like TFSI and FSI) for liquid and polymer electrolytes (1986). Since 2013 he is a Group Leader at CIC Energigune.
10.1039/d0ee02203a
Prof. Teofilo Rojo received his PhD in chemistry from the University of the Basque Country in 1981. He became Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the UPV/EHU in 1992. His research has been focused on Solid State Chemistry and Materials Science. Since 2010 he is the Scientific Director of CIC Energigune developing materials research for advanced batteries (lithium, sodium, etc.). In 2015 he was appointed as an Academic Member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Exacts, Physical and Natural Sciences and in 2016 he was named member of the Working Party on Chemistry and Energy of EuCheMS (European Chemical Science).
Prof. Guoxiu Wang is the Director of the Centre for Clean Energy Technology and a Distinguished Professor at University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Australia. Professor Wang is an expert in materials chemistry, electrochemistry, energy storage and conversion, and battery technologies. Currently, he serves as an Associate Editor for Electrochemical Energy Review (Springer-Nature), an editorial board member for Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group) and Energy Storage Materials (Elsevier). His research interests include lithium-ion batteries, lithium-air batteries, sodium-ion batteries, lithium-sulfur batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage materials, fuel-cells, 2D materials such as graphene and MXene, and electrocatalysis for hydrogen production.
Prof. Chunsheng Wang is a full professor at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) and a co-founder and Director of the Centre for Research in Extreme Batteries (a joint battery center of the US Army Research Lab and University of Maryland). His work on lithium batteries has been featured in NASA Tech Brief, EFRC/DoE newsletter, C&EN etc. Dr Wang is the recipient of the A. James Clark School of Engineering Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award in the University of Maryland in 2013, and he is the winner of UMD's Invention of the Year for 2015.
Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI
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SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
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ISSN:1754-5692
1754-5706
DOI:10.1039/d0ee02203a