Electrochemistry and Basic Reaction Mechanism of Lithium Metal/Sulfur Batteries

The Li-sulfur (S) battery is a promising electrochemical system as a high-energy rechargeable battery due to its low cost and high theoretical specific energy. This chapter focuses on mechanism understanding of elemental sulfur conversion into Li2S through the polysulfides formation. The shuttle effect of Li2S4, Li2S6 and Li2S8 species is the main responsible of low Coulombic Efficiency. During charge metallic lithium is consumed followed by the formation of insulating Li2S layer on its surface. This chapter aims to summarize the most recent works reported in literature to understand the origin of this detrimental reaction.