Study on Self-discharge Behavior of Lithium-Sulfur Batteries

Lithium-Sulfur (Li-S) batteries are a promising energy storage technology, which draws interest due to their high theoretical limits in terms of specific capacity, specific energy and energy density. However as a drawback, they suffer from a high self-discharge rate, which is mainly caused by ongoing polysulfide shuttle. In this paper, the self-discharge behavior of Li-S batteries is experimentally investigated, considering various conditions as depth-of-discharge, temperature and idling time. The self-discharge rate under different conditions is identified and quantified. Moreover, a methodology for estimating the capacity of the high voltage plateau based on a self-discharge constant was analyzed; however, the method needs further improvements in order to estimate this capacity accurately for all conditions.