Surface Morphology Changes of Lithium/Sulfur Battery using Multi-walled carbon nanotube added Sulfur Electrode during Cyclings

Abstract

We investigated the surface morphology changes of a lithium/sulfur battery using multi-walled canbon nanotube added sulfur electrode during charge-discharge cycling. The Li/S cell showed the first discharge capacity of 1286 mAh/g-S, which utilized is 71% of the theoretical value. It decreased to 328 mAh/g-S at the 100th cycle, which corresponds to about 19% utilization of the total sulfur in the cathode. The spherical lumps of the reaction product were observed on the surface of the sulfur electrode. This material was verified as lithium sulfide by X-ray diffraction measurement. The pores in the separator were filled with reaction product. Thus the diffusion of the Li(+) ion decreased, which resulted in the decreased capacity of the Li/S cell.