Intercalation and Deintercalation of Lithium at the Ionic Liquid-Graphite(0001) Interface

The intercalation and deintercalation of lithium (Li) into / out of graphite(0001), which is a highly important process in Li-ion batteries, was investigated under ultrahigh vacuum conditions as a function of temperature, employing X-ray and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. Both the up-shifts of the core-level binding energy and the lowering of the work function ΔΦ reveal that heating of a monolayer of the battery-relevant ionic liquid (IL) 1-butyl-1-methyl-pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BMP]⁺[TFSI]^-) adsorbed on lithiated graphite at 80 K to >230 K facilitates an accumulation of partially charged Li^δ+ atoms at the IL-graphite(0001) interface. This is accompanied by a partial IL decomposition, which is associated with the initial stages of the chemical formation of the solid-electrolyte interphase.