LG Energy Solution has demonstrated a high-capacity all-solid-state battery using a sulfur-based cathode material, highlighting the potential of next-generation high-energy batteries.
The research was conducted jointly with the team led by Professor Shirley Meng, a globally recognized expert in solid-state battery technology. The findings were published on February 27 in Nature Communications, an international academic journal in the energy field.
LG Energy Solution said the achievement is the result of collaborative research conducted at the Frontier Research Lab (FRL), which the company operates jointly with the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) and the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. The study is particularly significant because it demonstrates high energy storage performance using sulfur as a cathode material.
Sulfur has long been considered a promising candidate for next-generation high-capacity cathodes due to its low cost, abundant availability, and extremely high theoretical capacity of approximately 1,675 mAh per gram. However, commercialization has been limited in conventional batteries using liquid electrolytes because of the polysulfide problem, where sulfur compounds formed during charge and discharge dissolve into the electrolyte, leading to reduced lifespan and stability.
To address this challenge, the joint research team adopted an all-solid-state battery architecture that replaces liquid electrolytes with solid electrolytes. This approach effectively prevented sulfur dissolution and enabled the battery to achieve a capacity of around 1,500 mAh per gram while maintaining stable cycling performance.
Notably, the performance was not limited to laboratory-scale coin cells. The researchers confirmed that the technology can also be implemented in practical pouch-type battery formats, demonstrating meaningful progress toward real-world commercialization.
An LG Energy Solution official said the research is significant because it confirms the potential for expanding energy capacity beyond conventional lithium-ion batteries through the use of sulfur cathodes. The company added that it plans to continue advancing next-generation battery technologies by strengthening collaboration between industry and academia while improving safety, energy density, and cost competitiveness simultaneously.
