Gyeongsang National University Develops High-Performance Lithium-Sulfur Battery Resistant to Fire

Application of Bio-material Binder... Expected to Eliminate Fire Risk in Electric Vehicle and Drone Batteries
'K-Battery Development Strategy'... Commercialization Target by 2025

Operating Principle of Lithium-Sulfur Battery

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Soon-kyung] Professor Hyun-Young Jung's team from the Department of Energy Engineering, College of Convergence Technology Engineering, Gyeongsang National University has developed a high-performance lithium-sulfur battery that does not catch fire by applying a bio-polymer binder.

Lithium-sulfur batteries are one of the key strategies to secure top-tier technology for next-generation secondary batteries according to the government’s ‘K-Battery Development Strategy,’ and are a core research and development (R&D) field where public and private sectors are pooling their capabilities with the goal of commercialization by 2025.

Sulfur batteries, which use sulfur abundantly found in nature as the electrode, have the advantages of low cost and high theoretical energy density, making early commercialization essential to capture the global secondary battery market in the future.

However, lithium-sulfur batteries face challenges in market expansion due to sulfur’s low electrical conductivity, volume expansion during charge and discharge, and the dissolution of polysulfides.

A binder plays the role of stabilizing the electrode by binding the active material and conductive agent that make up the electrode as a whole. Currently, the binder for lithium-sulfur batteries mainly uses polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), which is commercialized in lithium-ion batteries, but it is not suitable for sulfur batteries with different operating mechanisms.

Accordingly, the research team developed a bio-polymer binder using Tragacanth to solve the problems of sulfur electrodes.

The bio binder developed by Professor Hyun-Young Jung’s team is evaluated as an excellent study that simultaneously overcomes the issues of polysulfide dissolution and volume expansion during charge and discharge in lithium-sulfur batteries, while also blocking the fire risk that batteries may have, thus achieving both performance and safety at once.

The research team theoretically verified through quantum calculations the bio-material suitable for sulfur electrodes among more than 3,000 types of Tragacanth, and applied it to lithium-sulfur batteries to achieve a high capacity of 1239mAh/g.

This value is about five times higher than that of lithium-sulfur batteries using commercialized binders applied in lithium-ion batteries, and the lifespan showed stable performance over 1,000 cycles.

In particular, the developed electrode operates even when bent at 180 degrees and does not burn in fire, demonstrating characteristics that make it a groundbreaking research result capable of functioning in extreme conditions.

First author Dr. Chenrayan Senthil said, “We tried to solve the problems of lithium-sulfur batteries by developing a new binder suitable for sulfur electrodes, and we hope this research will be an important first step toward the commercialization of lithium-sulfur batteries.”

Corresponding author Professor Hyun-Young Jung expressed hope, saying, “At a time when competition to secure leading technology in secondary batteries is accelerating, we hope that the technology developed this time will become a milestone leading to next-generation lithium-sulfur battery research applicable to high-performance advanced devices such as electric vehicles and drones.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.