Recent advancements and challenges in deploying lithium sulfur batteries as economical energy storage devices

Technology and its advancement has led to an increase in demand for electrical energy storage devices (ESDs) that find wide range of applications, from powering small electronic gadgets such as smartphones and laptops, to grid-scale energy storage applications. It is also pertinent to note that batteries are imperative for enabling electric vehicles, which can help reduce dependency on fossil fuels and decrease carbon emissions. Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are widely deployed energy-storing devices that dominate the battery market featuring so far the highest energy density among other conventional systems along with long cycle life and power density. Despite this, LiBs are not able to provide sufficient energy density having reached their practical energy density limit, which is an obstacle for their use in Electric Vehicles (EVs) for long driving ranges or other high end electronic devices. Their limited reserves are also jeopardizing its industry. Hence, solutions need to be explored to enhance its energy density by investigating high performance materials, all while utilizing the existing infrastructure for these batteries. As a result, the world is looking for high performance next-generation batteries. The Lithium-Sulfur Battery (LiSB) is one of the alternatives receiving attention as they offer a solution for next-generation energy storage systems because of their high specific capacity (1675 mAh/g), high energy density (2600 Wh/kg) and abundance of sulfur in nature. These qualities make LiSBs extremely promising as the upcoming high-energy storing technology. Therefore, LiSBs are emerging as the next-generation batteries as they are able to provide high capacity at a lower cost. The sulfur that is used as the cathode in LiSBs is less expensive than the cobalt used in LiBs. Nevertheless, several obstacles must be addressed to render them a feasible choice for real-world implementations. The sulfur cathode encounters numerous obstacles such as high-volume increase, lower conductivity, and shuttling effect resulting from the dissolution and movement of polysulfides (PS). Expanding on this line, the purpose of this review is to provide a general overview of the development and advancement of LiSBs regarding sulfur-based composite cathodes, separator modifications, binder, and electrolyte improvement, and lithium metal protection along with a rational behind its research and technology adaptation in future.