title: Manipulating surface reactions in lithium-sulphur batteries using hybrid anode structures.
abstract: Lithium-sulphur batteries have high theoretical energy density and potentially low cost, but significant challenges such as severe capacity degradation prevent its widespread adoption. Here we report a new design of lithium-sulphur battery using electrically connected graphite and lithium metal as a hybrid anode to control undesirable surface reactions on lithium. Lithiated graphite placed in front of the lithium metal functions as an artificial, self-regulated solid electrolyte interface layer to actively control the electrochemical reactions and minimize the deleterious side reactions, leading to significant performance improvements. Lithium-sulphur cells incorporating this hybrid anodes deliver capacities of >800 mAh g(-1) for 400 cycles at a high rate of 1,737 mA g(-1), with only 11% capacity fade and a Coulombic efficiency >99%. This simple hybrid concept may also provide scientific strategies for protecting metal anodes in other energy-storage devices.
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Yuyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Wendy D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Bennett
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Dongping
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Laxmikant V
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Saraf
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Engelhard
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Liwen
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Jiguang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Gordon L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Graff
authors.affiliation: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu