Negating the interfacial resistance between solid and liquid electrolytes for next-generation lithium batteries
Negating the interfacial resistance between solid and liquid electrolytes for next-generation lithium batteries
The combination of solid and liquid electrolytes enables the development of safe and high-energy batteries where the solid electrolyte acts as a protective barrier for a high-energy lithium metal anode, while the liquid electrolyte maintains facile electrochemical reactions with the cathode. However, the contact region between the solid and liquid electrolytes is associated with a very high resistance, which severely limits the specific energy that can be practically delivered. In this work, we demonstrate a suitable approach to virtually suppress such interfacial resistance. Using a NASICON-type solid electrolyte in a variety of liquid electrolytes (ethers, DMSO, acetonitrile, ionic liquids, etc.), we show that the addition of water as electrolyte additive decreases the interfacial resistance from >100 ω cm2 to a negligible value (<5 ω cm2). XPS measurements reveal that the composition of the solid-liquid electrolyte interphase is very similar in wet and dry liquid electrolytes, and thus the suppression of the associated resistance is tentatively ascribed to a plasticizer or preferential ion solvation effect of water, or to a change in the interphase morphology or porosity caused by water. Our simple estimates show that the improvement in the solid-liquid electrolyte interphase resistance observed here could translate to an enhancement of 15-22% in the practical energy density of a Li-S or Li-O2 battery and improvements in the roundtrip efficiency of 21-28 percentage points.
electrolyte additives, lithium metal batteries, lithium-ion transport, solid-liquid electrolyte interphases, solid-liquid hybrid electrolytes
Garcia-Araez, Nuria
9358a0f9-309c-495e-b6bf-da985ad81c37
Padmanabhan, Vivek
edf1af56-581e-4653-9887-b98a99c0e314
Meddings, Nina
3018b390-3284-4da0-a9c6-4be738803717
Garcia-Araez, Nuria
9358a0f9-309c-495e-b6bf-da985ad81c37
Padmanabhan, Vivek
edf1af56-581e-4653-9887-b98a99c0e314
Meddings, Nina
3018b390-3284-4da0-a9c6-4be738803717
Garcia-Araez, Nuria, Padmanabhan, Vivek and Meddings, Nina
(2021)
Negating the interfacial resistance between solid and liquid electrolytes for next-generation lithium batteries.
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.
(doi:10.1021/acsami.1c17247).
Abstract
The combination of solid and liquid electrolytes enables the development of safe and high-energy batteries where the solid electrolyte acts as a protective barrier for a high-energy lithium metal anode, while the liquid electrolyte maintains facile electrochemical reactions with the cathode. However, the contact region between the solid and liquid electrolytes is associated with a very high resistance, which severely limits the specific energy that can be practically delivered. In this work, we demonstrate a suitable approach to virtually suppress such interfacial resistance. Using a NASICON-type solid electrolyte in a variety of liquid electrolytes (ethers, DMSO, acetonitrile, ionic liquids, etc.), we show that the addition of water as electrolyte additive decreases the interfacial resistance from >100 ω cm2 to a negligible value (<5 ω cm2). XPS measurements reveal that the composition of the solid-liquid electrolyte interphase is very similar in wet and dry liquid electrolytes, and thus the suppression of the associated resistance is tentatively ascribed to a plasticizer or preferential ion solvation effect of water, or to a change in the interphase morphology or porosity caused by water. Our simple estimates show that the improvement in the solid-liquid electrolyte interphase resistance observed here could translate to an enhancement of 15-22% in the practical energy density of a Li-S or Li-O2 battery and improvements in the roundtrip efficiency of 21-28 percentage points.
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Accepted/In Press date: 29 November 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 28 December 2021
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The X-ray photoelectron (XPS) data collection was performed at the EPSRC National Facility for XPS (“HarwellXPS”), operated by Cardiff University and UCL, under Contract No. PR16195. We also acknowledge Dr. Mark Isaacs and Dr. Sam Fitch for helpful scientific discussions regarding the XPS measurements.
Funding Information:
This work was funded by the ISCF Faraday Challenge Fast Start project on “Degradation of Battery Materials” made available through grant EP/S003053/1. N.G.A. also thanks the EPSRC for an early career fellowship (EP/N024303/1).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 American Chemical Society.
Keywords:
electrolyte additives, lithium metal batteries, lithium-ion transport, solid-liquid electrolyte interphases, solid-liquid hybrid electrolytes
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 452870
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/452870
ISSN: 1944-8244
PURE UUID: fe8cc033-8921-4a51-9a0c-de1d74118a20
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Date deposited: 06 Jan 2022 17:37
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 07:00
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Author:
Vivek Padmanabhan
Author:
Nina Meddings
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