Ultra-high-voltage Ni-rich layered cathodes in practical Li metal batteries enabled by a sulfonamide-based electrolyte

By Weijiang Xue, Mingjun Huang, Yutao Li, Yun Guang Zhu, R. Gao, Xianghui Xiao, Wenxu Zhang, Sipei Li, Guiyin Xu, Yang Yu and 13 more. Nature Energy, 2021

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By increasing the charging voltage, a cell specific energy of >400 W h kg−1 is achievable with LiNi0.8Mn0.1Co0.1O2 in Li metal batteries. However, stable cycling of high-nickel cathodes at ultra-high voltages is extremely challenging. Here we report that a rationally designed sulfonamide-based electrolyte enables stable cycling of commercial LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 with a cut-off voltage up to 4.7 V in Li metal batteries. In contrast to commercial carbonate electrolytes, the electrolyte not only suppresses side reactions, stress-corrosion cracking, transition-metal dissolution and impedance growth on the cathode side, but also enables highly reversible Li metal stripping and plating leading to a compact morphology and low pulverization. Our lithium-metal battery delivers a specific capacity >230 mA h g−1 and an average Coulombic efficiency >99.65% over 100 cycles. Even under harsh testing conditions, the 4.7 V lithium-metal battery can retain >88% capacity for 90 cycles, advancing practical lithium-metal batteries. Charging at high voltages in principle makes batteries energy dense, but this is often achieved at the cost of the cycling stability. Here the authors design a sulfonamide-based electrolyte to enable a Li metal battery with a state-of-the-art cathode at an ultra-high voltage of 4.7 V while maintaining cyclability.

Subfields: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fd713a6703c2819cb8494d6b4c4003b0956e4235