Room-Temperature Sodium-Sulfur Batteries with Simplified Sulfurized Polyacrylonitrile Cathodes for Long-Term Cycling Stability

Jesús Manuel Blázquez Moreno^a, Ana Laura Páez Jerez^b, Alvaro Yamil Tesio^a^,^b, Almudena Benítez de la Torre^a, Alvaro Caballero Amores^a

^aUniversidad de Córdoba, Instituto Químico para la Energía y el Medioambiente (IQUEMA), Marie Curie Building, 1st floor, Campus de Rabanales, N-IV, km 396, Córdoba, Spain

^bCentro de Investigación y desarrollo en Materiales Avanzados y Almacenamiento de Energía de Jujuy (CIDMEJu)

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of MATSUS Spring 2025 Conference (MATSUSSpring25)

Post-Lithium Technologies toward Sustainable Batteries - #SusBatT

Sevilla, Spain, 2025 March 3rd - 7th

Organizers: Ivana Hasa, Nagore Ortiz Vitoriano and Manuel Souto

Oral, Jesús Manuel Blázquez Moreno, presentation 190
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.matsusspring.2025.190
Publication date: 16th December 2024

Global population growth and the expansion of electric vehicles have led to a surge in energy demand, stimulating the search for alternatives to fossil fuels and accelerating the transition to renewable energy sources. In this context, metal-sulfur batteries (Li-S or Na-S) have become a promising area of research. Sodium batteries are characterized by their lower cost and abundance compared to lithium, making them an attractive candidate for large-scale applications. However, Na-S batteries face significant hurdles, including sluggish reaction kinetics, the insulating nature of sulfur, and the dissolution of polysulfides resulting in the well-documented "shuttle effect" [1].
To overcome these obstacles, advanced materials for Na-S batteries are being investigated, with sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) showing remarkable potential. This carbon-based polymer has favorable electrochemical properties. Through simple and efficient synthesis methods, sulfur is covalently bonded to the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) backbone, eliminating the formation of long-chain polysulfides. This innovation largely mitigates or even eliminates the shuttle effect, resulting in improved stability and capacity in Na-S cells [2,3].
In this study, the textural and morphological properties of SPAN were extensively analyzed after a facile synthesis. Its electrochemical performance was tested using CR2032-type Na-S button cells, and it demonstrated exceptional long-term stability over more than a thousand charge-discharge cycles. Furthermore, it achieved impressive specific capacity values at high charge and discharge rates, surpassing many conventional materials.
This work introduces SPAN as a promising cathode material for Na-S batteries. Its combination of low cost, high sustainability, and scalability positions it as a strong candidate for next-generation energy storage solutions, addressing global energy demands while contributing to environmentally friendly technologies

References:

[1] Murugan, S.; Klostermann, S. V.; Frey, W.; Kästner, J.; Buchmeiser, M. R. A Sodium Bis(Perfluoropinacol) Borate-Based Electrolyte for Stable, High-Performance Room Temperature Sodium-Sulfur Batteries Based on Sulfurized Poly(Acrylonitrile). Electrochem. Commun. 2021, 128, 107137.

[2] Wang, L.; Chen, X.; Li, S.; Yang, J.; Sun, Y.; Peng, L.; Shan, B.; Xie, J. Effect of Eutectic Accelerator in Selenium-Doped Sulfurized Polyacrylonitrile for High-Performance Room Temperature Sodium–Sulfur Batteries. J. Mater. Chem. A 2019, 7, 12732–12739

[3] Páez Jerez, A. L.; Chemes, D. M.; Sham, E. L.; Davies, L. E.; Tesio, A. Y.; Flexer, V. Low-Temperature Synthesis of a Sulfur-Polyacrylonitrile Composite Cathode for Lithium-Sulfur Batteries. ChemistrySelect 2020, 5, 5465–5472.

Acknowledgements:

This research was funded by Spanish Ministry of Science andInnovation MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union “NextGenerationEU/PRTR” (Projects PID2023-147080OB-I00 & PDC2021-120903-I00); “Juan de la Cierva – Incorporación” fellowship (IJC2020-045041-I), Cordoba University (Plan Propio de Investigación 2023,UCOLIDERA), and Junta de Andalucía (FQM-175 Group). AYTthanks to CONICET program “Ayudas para la recualificación del sistema universitario español, Modalidad María Zambrano” and projects “Iniciativa Federal para el Desarrollo de Materiales y Procesos Sustentables para el Almacenamiento de Energía, EX-2023-42139041-APN-DDYGD#MCT” and CONICET-PIP 2021–2023 GI-11220200100704CO. The authors wish to acknowledgethe technical staff from the Instituto Químico para la Energía y el Medioambiente (IQUEMA) and Servicio Central de Apoyo a laInvestigación (SCAI) of Córdoba University.

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