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Summary Draft 1

Lockett, W. (2022, April 17). The Future https://bigthink.com/the-future/lithium-sulfurbatteries/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fs=e&s=cl&fbclid=IwAR1JQVrPK4Nt6YauDpwVZrmkeHE1jR0zfHdUdqe1wC5xr4XEabacCNVJLE#Echobox=1658939001-1

This article discusses the benefits of lithium-sulphur battery compared to our current choice of lithium-ion battery and how it will change our future.

The main materials needed to build lithium-ion batteries includes of lithium, graphite, manganese and cobalt, however cobalt mining is very environmentally damaging as they destroy the ecosystem and leech out toxic chemicals while mining.

Scientists at Drexel have been trying to find a way to allow the production of batteries to be cheaper while having more power output, until recently that they discovered lithium-sulphur which is able to solve all lithium-ion’s problem.

Firstly, lithium-sulphur batteries are cheaper to produce as the resources needed to make this battery are abundant all over the Earth, and mining for sulphur can reduce the ecological impact which is one of lithium-ion problem that it is currently facing.

Secondly, lithium-sulphur batteries are three times more energy dense versus lithium-ion batteries, meaning that it has a larger storage capacity, and it is much lighter.

However, the downside to using lithium-sulphur is that it has smaller charge cycle compared to its counterpart because when the battery charges and discharge, it creates polysulfides which take away some of the sulphur out of the electrode contributing to the reason for its smaller charge cycle. To solve this issue, the scientists has been trying experimenting by changing the compounds in the battery’s cathode where they found a chemical phase of sulphur known as monoclinic gamma which stops battery degradation. This phase causes the reaction that create polysulfides to stop, thus allowing it to have a longer battery life.

The use of lithium-sulphur batteries could change human lives as it allows a huge range of activities to go electric, allowing the emission of carbon dioxide to be much lesser which would potentially save the Earth as well.

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