Comparative life cycle assessment of high performance lithium-sulfur battery cathodes

Lithium-sulfur (Li–S) batteries present a great potential to displace current energy storage chemistries thanks to their energy density that goes far beyond conventional batteries. To promote the development of greener Li–S batteries, closing the existing gap between the quantification of the potential environmental impacts associated with Li–S cathodes and their performance is required. Herein we show a comparative analysis of the life cycle environmental impacts of five Li–S battery cathodes with high sulfur loadings (1.5–15 mg·cm(−2)) through life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology and cradle-to-gate boundary. Depending on the selected battery, the environmental impact can be reduced by a factor up to 5. LCA results from Li–S batteries are compared with the conventional lithium ion battery from Ecoinvent 3.6 database, showing a decreased environmental impact per kWh of storage capacity. A predominant role of the electrolyte on the environmental burdens associated with the use of Li–S batteries was also found. Sensitivity analysis shows that the specific impacts can be reduced by up to 70% by limiting the amount of used electrolyte. Overall, this manuscript emphasizes the potential of Li–S technology to develop environmentally benign batteries aimed at replacing existing energy storage systems.