Recently, the iChEM researcher, Jian Chen from DICP, made significate progress in lithium sulfur battery technology. They have developed a high performance nano-structure carbon disulfide composite material, high sulfur content of sulfur cathode and large capacity lithium sulfur battery technology. After the evaluation of CAS, the battery has a capacity as high as 30Ah and weight specific energy of 520Wh/kg, which is also the highest rated capacity and energy density of lithium sulfur batteries have been reported in the world. At the same time, the research group has also made great progress in the lithium sulfur battery technology, they invented a 1kWh lithium sulfur battery with specific energy as high as 330Wh/kg.

The weight specific energy of lithium sulfur battery can be as high as 2600Wh/kg theoretically. In recent years, it has caused wide attention from domestic and foreign research institutions as well as enterprises. The number of innovative researches and technical solutions is increasing, but the reports about large capacity of lithium sulfur batteries are limited. The research group will further optimize the materials and preparation technology of the batteries, to further enhance the quality of lithium sulfur battery to achieve higher specific energy (the goal is 3 to 4 times higher than the commercialized one). In order to realize the large-scale practical application of lithium sulfur batteries, the research group is going to overcome the battery cycle life, power density and safety and other technical bottlenecks.

The above work has been supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the program of the "long life lithium battery", the "863" program of the Ministry of Education, and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM).