Battery knowledge · Aging and degradation
Polysulfide shuttle
The parasitic loop in a lithium–sulfur cell in which long-chain polysulfides, Li₂Sₙ with n from 4 to 8, dissolve into the electrolyte, diffuse to the lithium electrode, are reduced there and diffuse back. It causes self-discharge, low coulombic efficiency and loss of sulfur; lithium nitrate, which passivates the lithium surface, is the usual additive against it.
- Also called
- shuttle effect, polysulfide shuttle effect
Example
Aging and degradation: an example situation
Capacity loss and resistance rise can have different causes; a film-growth curve cannot identify both.
Read Polysulfide shuttle alongside Conversion reaction in this context. An electrode reaction in which the host compound is broken down and reformed, as sulfur or a metal fluoride is, rather than lithium slotting into an intact structure. Conversion materials store more charge than intercalation hosts but suffer large volume change and voltage hysteresis.
Use in Lemonergy
Separate mechanisms, observations and fitted models.
This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.
References & further reading
Further reading on this topic
These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.
- Lithium ion battery degradation: what you need to know
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics · 2021
Topic background · Degradation mechanisms, modes, operational effects and their interactions.