Monolithic wood-derived cathodes for lithium-sulfur batteries

There is increasing need for transportation decarbonization and rising consumer interest inelectric vehicles (EVs) but higher cost and lower range compared to internal combustion enginevehicles have severely restricted consumer adoption. These range and cost limitations are due tothe low gravimetric energy density (kWh/kg) and high cost of current lithium batteries (LiBs).Evoseer LLC has developed a novel process for low cost and environmentally friendlyconstruction of high energy density battery cathodes for next-generation LiBs. Wood-derivedmonolithic carbon matrices are tailored for high levels of sulfur infiltration and retainmentenabling lithium-sulfur batteries with higher gravimetric energy density than current metaloxide-based LiBs.The research objectives for this Phase I SBIR are to tailor the micro- and nano-structures of thecarbon cathode matrices maximize the durable infiltration of sulfur and benchmark theperformance of these cathodes in assembled batteries. The anticipated outcomes of the proposedPhase I project include increased sulfur capacity and retention as compared to Evoseer's currentcathode prototype and benchmarked performance demonstrating higher cathode-basisgravimetric energy density than current commerical cathode chemistries. Commercialapplications of lower cost higher energy density LiBs - enabled through Evoseer's batterycathode technology - are widespread but particularly well-suited to EVs due to the importance ofcost and gravimetric energy density in transportation applications.