Publication of Two Papers on the Characterization of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries
Within the Laboratory for applied X-ray spectroscopy, we are currently exploring the capabilities of X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) to characterize electrochemical processes in batteries based on a sulfur cathode. At the moment X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), performed at synchrotrons, is most commonly used in such analysis. On the other hand, XES spectroscopy can also be successfully performed in a smaller laboratory, which removes the access limitation and could speed up the technological development of sulfur batteries.
Within this work, which is performed in collaboration with colleagues from the Laboratory for Modern Battery Systems at the National Institute of Chemistry, we have recently published two papers on the characterization of lithium-sulfur batteries using sulfur XES. In the first paper, published in the Applied Energy Materials, XES was used to determine average sulfur charge during battery discharge. Within the second paper, published in the Chemical Communications, theoretical modeling of measured XES spectra was used to identify different sulfur compounds and determine quantitatively their relative amounts.
