Insight into the failure mechanism of large-scale cylindrical lithium–sulphur cells

Li-S batteries with a sulphur loading content of 5 mg cm-2 were produced as large-scale 18 650 cylindrical cells. We have found that a key failure mode of cylindrical Li-S battery cells is the severe capacity fading during the galvanostatic charge-discharge process due to the corrosion of the electrodes, the electrolyte decomposition, and the severe polysulphide shuttling effect.