Electrolyte additives significantly increased the service life of lithium metal batteries

A team of scientists from KAIST, whose work was published in the journal Energy Storage Materials, showed how to increase the service life of lithium metal batteries through special additives to the electrolyte. These in addition improved the efficiency of the discharge and charging processes.

A small revolution of lithium metal batteries in terms of appropriate additives to their electrolyte

Professor Nam-Soon Choi’s team in their work hierarchized the solid electrolyte, creating a two-layer structure. He did this through two additives with reducing and absorbing properties that improved the functionality of the two-layer solid phase of the electrolyte. Additionally, it increased the structural stability of the nickel-rich cathode by creating a thin protective layer. Their batteries boasted 80.9% of the initial capacity after 600 charging cycles and achieved a high efficiency of 99.94%.

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The team developed this new method of creating a two-layer solid electrolyte phase to solve the problem of lithium metal anode instability by applying additives to the electrolyte. This hierarchical structure of the solid electrolyte phase on the lithium metal anode has potential for further use in lithium alloy anodes, lithium storage structures and anode-free technology.

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According to the team, their findings and research suggest a new direction in the development of electrolyte additives to regulate the unstable anode-electrolyte interface. This is still the biggest obstacle to the mass production and development of lithium metal batteries.