Kilogram scale inverse vulcanization of elemental sulfur to prepare high capacity polymer electrodes for Li-S batteries

The synthesis of high content sulfur copolymers via the inverse vulcanization of elemental sulfur and 1,3-diisopropenylbenzene (DIB) on a one-kilogram scale is reported in a single step process. Investigation into the effects of temperature, reaction scale, and comonomer feed ratios on the inverse vulcanization process of S₈ and DIB were explored to suppress the Trommsdorf effect and enable large scale synthesis of these copolymers. The copolymers were then successfully used as the active cathode materials in Li-S batteries, exhibiting enhanced capacity retention and battery lifetimes (608 mAh/g at 640 cycles) at a C/10 rate.