Amorphous Lithium Sulfide as Lithium-Sulfur Battery Cathode with Low Activation Barrier

Herein, the synthesis of a novel lithium sulfide (Li2S)-based material is presented. The material is composed of Li2S and lithium sulfenamide, which are formed in and coprecipitated from an ethylenediamine solution as an amorphous, but solid compound. The sulfenamide compound is shown to be an effective carbon source to obtain carbon-coated Li2S via post-processing. Both the pristine and carbon-coated materials are characterized by a series of physicochemical methods and preliminarily investigated for application in batteries. The pristine material possesses a remarkably low activation potential. This ease of activation is particularly beneficial for solid-state cells, where the material shows a much better performance than the commercially available Li2S.