Nitrate Additives Coordinated with Crown Ether Stabilize Lithium Metal Anodes in Carbonate Electrolyte

Sichen Gu, Si Wei Zhang, Junwei Han, Yaqian Deng, Chong Luo, Guangmin Zhou, Yanbing He, Guodan Wei, Feiyu Kang, Wei Lv*, Quan Hong Yang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

75 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Lithium metal anodes (LMAs) are promising for next-generation batteries but have poor compatibility with the widely used carbonate-based electrolytes, which is a major reason for their severe dendrite growth and low Coulombic efficiency (CE). A nitrate additive to the electrolyte is an effective solution, but its low solubility in carbonates is a problem that can be solved using a crown ether, as reported. A rubidium nitrate additive coordinated with 18-crown-6 crown ether stabilizes the LMA in a carbonate electrolyte. The coordination promotes the dissolution of NO3 ions and helps form a dense solid electrolyte interface that is Li3N-rich which guides uniform Li deposition. In addition, the Rb (18-crown-6)+ complexes are adsorbed on the dendrite tips, shielding them from Li deposition on the dendrite tips. A high CE of 97.1% is achieved with a capacity of 1 mAh cm−2 in a half cell, much higher than when using the additive-free electrolyte (92.2%). Such an additive is very compatible with a nickel-rich ternary cathode at a high voltage, and the assembled full battery with a cathode material loading up to 10 mg cm−2 shows an average CE of 99.8% over 200 cycles, indicating a potential for practical use.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2102128
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume31
Issue number28
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jul 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • carbonate electrolytes
  • crown ether
  • high voltage cathodes
  • lithium metal batteries
  • nitrate additives

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Nitrate Additives Coordinated with Crown Ether Stabilize Lithium Metal Anodes in Carbonate Electrolyte'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this