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Summary Reader Response Draft 4

 In the article “The Future”, Lockett (2022) introduces the new discovery of lithium-sulphur batteries and how it will shape the future. Currently the battery tech of choice has always been lithium-ion battery. However, there have some downsides to using the battery.

According to Lockett (2022), the raw materials that are needed to build lithium-ion battery are lithium, graphite, cobalt and manganese. However, cobalt is environmentally damaging as it leaches out toxic chemicals while mining it. There is also the life cycle problem where the lithium-ion battery will lose its power storage capacity if it is repeatedly being charged. Additional, battery degradation is also an issue for the electronic vehicle (EV) world as the cost to replace the battery is high. Thus, the battery will have to be thrown away and contributes to electronic waste which is becoming a problem for the world to deal with. There is also the density problem as Lithium-ion battery packs are quite energy-dense but heavy and bulky. This will limit the EV range as the batteries are heavy, and it will make it unfeasible to adopt for some application like commercial electric planes and ships. Lockett stated that “On the surface, lithium-sulphur as a compound seems to solve all of lithium-ion’s problems”.

Lithium-sulphur has shown the potential to replace the current battery choice as it is more energy dense and cheap compared to lithium-ion. Furthermore, it is not harmful to the environment.  However, the drawback of lithium-sulphur is that it suffers from a short lifespan.

The mining of raw materials for lithium-sulphur is environmentally friendly as Earth has abundant resources of lithium and sulphur, hence the ecological impact to the ecosystem will be minimised as well as being able to ensure a stronger supply chain (Lockett, 2022). With global warming being a huge concern and lithium-sulphur being environmentally friendly, it can be a huge reason for it to be able to replace lithium-ion battery.

Another benefit to using lithium-sulphur battery is the high energy density it can provide due to the composition of sulphur. The specific energy density of lithium-ion is between 260 – 270 wh/kg (Dragonfly Energy, 2022), while the theoretical value of lithium-sulphur is 10 times that of lithium-ion, estimated to be 2500 wh/kg. The higher the energy density, the longer the battery can emit a charge in relation to its size. As a result, it can store a higher amount of energy which allows electrical appliances to last for a longer period. Moreover, the cost to produce lithium-sulphur is also cheaper compared to lithium-ion as cobalt is a rare metal compared to sulphur. Cobalt has a price of around $75000 per metric ton and it had increase over the last twelve months, while the price of sulphur is only $382 per metric ton. By comparison, the price for 1 ton of cobalt equates to about 200 tons of sulphur (Liddle, 2022). Hence, the cost to manufacture lithium-sulphur per unit of power can offer substantial savings (Merrifield, 2020) when compared to cobalt. As consumers nowadays demand a faster charge time from their devices, the higher energy density of lithium-sulphur while being low in cost, can be said to be an improvement to lithium-ion battery hence replacing it as the upcoming battery tech of choice.

Despite the benefits of lithium-sulphur, the short lifespan of lithium-sulphur is an obstacle from allowing it to be available to the market. The short life cycle is due to its chemical component as charging the battery causes a build-up of chemical deposits called polysulfides that will degrade the cell hence reducing the amount of time the battery can be recharge repeatedly (Lockett, 2022). However, scientists have been trying to figure out ways to experiment on this chemical reaction in order to reduce the build up of chemical deposits. According to Lockett (2022), scientists at Drexel University found a chemical reaction of sulphur that stops this cell degradation called monoclinic gamma-phase sulphur, which means that the battery can charge for at least 4000 charge cycle without a drop in capacity. However, scientists are still trying to decipher this phenomenon behind this phase of sulphur that is created or how to ensure it stays that way. So further research is needed in order to develop a reliable battery that can be used in billions of computers, electric cars, and the like.

In conclusion, I believe that the use of lithium-sulphur battery would change the future as it can enable commercial planes and ships to run on electricity and it allows a wide range of activities to go electric, hence making the emission of carbon dioxide to be much lesser. There are also more benefits to using lithium-sulphur battery compared to lithium-ion battery, in terms of its eco-friendliness, high energy capacity and being more cost efficient.

References

Dragonfly Energy (2022, December 14). Why does energy density matter in batteries?

https://dragonflyenergy.com/why-does-energy-density-matter-in-batteries/#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20lithium-ion%20batteries,50-100%20wh%2Fkg.

 

Liddle, G (2022, March 15). Lithium-Sulfur Batteries are a long term solution to rising ev costs. Lyten

https://lyten.com/lithium-sulfur-batteries-are-a-long-term-solution-to-rising-ev-costs/

 

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

 

Marrifield, R (2020, June 5). Cheaper, lighter and more energy-dense: The promise of lithium-sulphur batteries

https://ec.europa.eu/research-and-innovation/en/horizon-magazine/cheaper-lighter-and-more-energy-dense-promise-lithium-sulphur-batteries

 

Park, J. W., Jo, S. C., Kim, M. J., Choi, I. H., Kim, B. G., Lee, Y. J., Choi, H. Y., Kang, S., Kim, TY., & Baeg, K. J.,(2021, April 2). Flexible high-energy-density lithium-sulphur batteries using nanocarbon-embedded fibrous sulphur cathodes and membrane separators. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41427-021-00295-y

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