Plasma Coupled Electrolyte Additive Strategy for Construction of High-Performance Solid Electrolyte Interphase on Li...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Electrochemistry
• Energy Storage

Background:

• High-performance lithium metal anodes are essential for next-generation batteries.
• Developing stable solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers is critical for lithium metal anode functionality.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel strategy for creating high-quality composite SEI layers on lithium metal anodes.
• To enhance the performance and stability of lithium metal batteries using a plasma-coupled electrolyte additive approach.

Main Methods:

• Utilized computational guidance to select diethyl dibromomalonate (DB) as an electrolyte additive.
• Developed a combined plasma technology and DB additive strategy to construct a hybrid SEI layer.
• Characterized the SEI composition and properties, including Li+ affinity and mechanical strength.

Main Results:

• The hybrid SEI layer, comprising inner LiBr/Li2CO3 and outer LiBr/Li2CO3/organic lithium compounds, promotes uniform Li+ deposition.
• Symmetrical cells demonstrated enhanced cycling stability (1200 h) with high coulombic efficiency (99.51%).
• Full cells achieved 81.7% capacity retention after 300 cycles, and pouch cells reached ≈664 Wh L−1 volumetric specific energy.

Conclusions:

• The plasma-coupled electrolyte additive strategy effectively modifies the SEI for improved lithium metal anode performance.
• This approach offers new insights into using plasma technology for advanced metal anode fabrication in energy storage applications.