Novel dual-salts electrolyte solution for dendrite-free lithium-metal based rechargeable batteries with high cycle reversibility

Metallic lithium is the most promising negative electrode for high energy rechargeable batteries due to its extremely high specific capacity and the lowest redox potential. However, the low cycle efficiency and lithium dendrite formation during charge/discharge processes consistently hinder its practical application. Here a new dual-salts electrolyte composed of Li[N(SO2F)(2)] and Li[N(SO2CF3)(2)] has been explored to simultaneously cope with these two problems. Under the unique protection of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film formed in this electrolyte solution and the improvement in Li crystal growth pattern, high cycle efficiency of ca. 99% and dendrite-free Li deposit have been achieved. Moreover, the excellent cycling performance and favorable lithium morphology can be retained even at high current density of 10 mA cm(-2). This study will greatly promote the development of Li-metal rechargeable batteries with high power and high energy density. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.