Chien, S. W., Tan, M. Y., Qiu, J., Tham, N. N., Fam, D. W. H., Chiam, S. Y., Yang, H. Y., Ding, N., & Liu, Z. (2026). Suppressing short circuits in sodium-sulfur batteries via a reinforced gel electrolyte. Journal of Energy Storage, 180, 124012. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.est.2026.124012
Abstract:
In the development of room-temperature rechargeable sodium-sulfur batteries, internal short circuits during
operation remain a major challenge, limiting cycle life and raising safety concerns. Shorting can arise either from polysulfide dissolution or from metal dendrite penetration through the separator. Herein, by employing a sulfurized polyacrylonitrile (SPAN) cathode in an organic carbonate electrolyte, we eliminate polysulfide interference and statistically investigate the shorting risk, correlating it with metal dendrite penetration through a porous separator. To address this issue, we develop a mechanically reinforced methacrylate gel polymer electrolyte with a Young's modulus of up to 52.1 MPa and demonstrate its ability to suppress dendrite penetration. Implementing this electrolyte in Na/SPAN cells enables stable Coulombic efficiency for over 200 cycles, whereas control cells exhibit unstable behavior after only ~50 cycles. Importantly, this strategy is applicable to ultrahigh-loading SPAN cells (18 mgSPAN cm-2, equivalent to ~6 mgsulfur cm-2) and to lithium‑sulfur batteries, a promising foundation for further development toward practical sodium‑sulfur battery configurations, warrantingfuture in vestigation under more demanding operating conditions.
License type:
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Manufacturing, Trade And Connectivity (MTC) Programmatic Fund
Grant Reference no. : M24N6b0043