Towards high performance inorganic all-solid-state lithium-sulfur batteries: strategies for enhancing reaction kinetics and solid-solid contact

• • The theoretical energy density of Li-S batteries reaches 2600 W h kg−1, with a fully packaged cell achieving up to 600 W h kg−1, but practical ASSLSB cathodes deliver only a fraction of this due to kinetic and contact limitations; industrial adoption requires closing this gap to >400 W h kg−1 at the pack level. • • Sulfur cathode theoretical capacity is 1675 mA h g−1, while lithium anode is 3860 mA h g−1; however, in solid-state cells, the discharge curve transitions from a dual plateau to a single plateau around 2.0 V (vs. Li/Li+), eliminating the shuttle effect but reducing voltage efficiency by ~0.1–0.2 V compared to liquid electrolyte systems. • • Solid-solid contact resistance in composite cathodes often exceeds 100 Ω cm2, leading to polarization >0.5 V at 0.1C; strategies such as elastic conductive channels (Adv Energy Mater 2024, 14: 2304412) reduce this to <50 Ω cm2, enabling high-rate operation at 1C with >80% capacity retention after 100 cycles. • • Areal mass loading of sulfur in ASSLSBs remains below 3 mg cm−2 in most studies, but dry process technology (eTransportation 2024, 19: 100298) has achieved >5 mg cm−2 with areal capacity >4 mA h cm−2, a critical threshold for commercial viability (≥4 mA h cm−2).