TY - JOUR
T1 - Direct electrochemical generation of supercooled sulfur microdroplets well below their melting temperature
AU - Liu, Nian
AU - Zhou, Guangmin
AU - Yang, Ankun
AU - Yu, Xiaoyun
AU - Shi, Feifei
AU - Sun, Jie
AU - Zhang, Jinsong
AU - Liu, Bofei
AU - Wu, Chun Lan
AU - Tao, Xinyong
AU - Sun, Yongming
AU - Cui, Yi
AU - Chu, Steven
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Academy of Sciences. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2019/1/15
Y1 - 2019/1/15
N2 - Supercooled liquid sulfur microdroplets were directly generated from polysulfide electrochemical oxidation on various metal-containing electrodes. The sulfur droplets remain liquid at 155 °C below sulfur’s melting point (T m = 115 °C), with fractional supercooling change (T m − T sc )/T m larger than 0.40. In operando light microscopy captured the rapid merging and shape relaxation of sulfur droplets, indicating their liquid nature. Micropatterned electrode and electrochemical current allow precise control of the location and size of supercooled microdroplets, respectively. Using this platform, we initiated and observed the rapid solidification of supercooled sulfur microdroplets upon crystalline sulfur touching, which confirms supercooled sulfur’s metastability at room temperature. In addition, the formation of liquid sulfur in electrochemical cell enriches lithium-sulfur-electrolyte phase diagram and potentially may create new opportunities for high-energy Li-S batteries.
AB - Supercooled liquid sulfur microdroplets were directly generated from polysulfide electrochemical oxidation on various metal-containing electrodes. The sulfur droplets remain liquid at 155 °C below sulfur’s melting point (T m = 115 °C), with fractional supercooling change (T m − T sc )/T m larger than 0.40. In operando light microscopy captured the rapid merging and shape relaxation of sulfur droplets, indicating their liquid nature. Micropatterned electrode and electrochemical current allow precise control of the location and size of supercooled microdroplets, respectively. Using this platform, we initiated and observed the rapid solidification of supercooled sulfur microdroplets upon crystalline sulfur touching, which confirms supercooled sulfur’s metastability at room temperature. In addition, the formation of liquid sulfur in electrochemical cell enriches lithium-sulfur-electrolyte phase diagram and potentially may create new opportunities for high-energy Li-S batteries.
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U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1817286116
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1817286116
M3 - Article
C2 - 30602455
AN - SCOPUS:85060017523
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 116
SP - 765
EP - 770
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 3
ER -