High-Energy SiO-Sulfur Battery with Preloaded Li₃N in a Cathode as a Lithiation Reagent

The practical use of lithium–sulfur batteries faces the "shuttle effect" and lithium dendrite growth. Employing SiO instead of Li metal can fundamentally solve the above problems. Nevertheless, selecting a convenient prelithiation method is essential for normal operation of the battery system. Hence, this work proposed a novel SiO-sulfur battery with preloaded Li3N in a cathode as a prelithiation reagent, which can thoroughly solve the dendrite problem and the side reaction with polysulfides of lithium anode. The S@KB-Li3N vs SiO full cell can obtain a high specific capacity of 790 mAh g–1 after the activation process and be maintained at 478 mAh g–1 after 100 cycles. Our design will provide a new prelithiation strategy for a high-specific-energy SiO-sulfur battery system.