‘Large Strides’ Made Toward Perfecting Lithium-Sulphur Cells, Says Fraunhofer

Three years of “energetic research work” at Fraunhofer concluded with “large strides” made toward perfecting lithium-sulphur technology for commercial battery use, the German institute said in a Wednesday announcement. The research yielded “considerably improved” methods for recharging the batteries and reducing their manufacturing costs through “the application of cost-effective roll-to-roll fabrication processes,” Fraunhofer said. It will present the results at its Oct. 24-26 workshop in Dresden, Germany, it said. Fraunhofer studied lithium-sulphur technology “because it might offer an attractive energy-storage solution for future mobility thanks to its low cost of materials and high energy density,” and because efficient storage of electrical energy is the “bottleneck” for all mobile electronics applications, it said. Future lithium-sulphur batteries will be known for their superior efficiencies compared with lithium-ion cells, it said. They’ll also replace the “expensive cathode material” of lithium-ion batteries with the more “cost-effective and non-toxic” sulphur, the availability and supply of which are “nearly unlimited,” it said.