Electrochemical Reactivation of Dead Li S for Li-S Batteries in Non-Solvating Electrolytes.

The use of non-solvating, or as-called sparingly-solvating, electrolytes (NSEs), is regarded as one of the most promising solutions to the obstacles to the practical applications of Li-S batteries. However, it remains a puzzle that long-life Li-S batteries have rarely, if not never, been reported with NSEs, despite their good compatibility with Li anode. Here, we find the capacity decay of Li-S batteries in NSEs is mainly due to the accumulation of the dead Li S at the cathode side, rather than the degradation of the anodes or electrolytes. Based on this understanding, we propose an electrochemical strategy to reactivate the accumulated Li S and revive the dead Li-S batteries in NSEs. With such a facile approach, Li-S batteries with significantly improved cycling stability and accelerated dynamics are achieved with diglyme-, acetonitrile- and 1,2-dimethoxyethane-based NSEs. Our finding may rebuild the confidence in exploiting non-solvating Li-S batteries with practical competitiveness.