Nonflammable functional electrolytes with all-fluorinated solvents matching rechargeable high-voltage Li-metal batteries with Ni-rich ternary cathode

A nonflammable functional electrolyte with fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) and ethyl difluoroacetate (EFA) solvents is developed to match the rechargeable Li-metal batteries (LMBs) withLiNi(0.8)Co(0.1)Mn(0.1)O(2) cathode (NCM811). The NCM811/Li LMBs with 1 M LiPF6-FEC/EFA electrolyte exhibit an enhanced cycling retention of 74% after 150 cycles and an average coulombic efficiency of similar to 99.9% at 1 C under a charging cut-off voltage of 4.4 V. In contrast, the capacity retention and average coulombic efficiency of NCM811/Li LMBs with fluorocarbonate-based electrolyte are 28% and 99.5%, and the batteries with carbonate-based electrolyte are 8% and 97.2%, respectively. This FEC/EFA-based electrolyte also shows comparable low-temperature performance to carbonate-based electrolyte and is superior to fluorocarbonate-based electrolyte. It is indicated that this all-fluorinated solvent system can facilitate the formation of a durable and highly fluorinated interfacial layer on both cathode and Li-metal anode. Especially, the FEC/EFA-based electrolyte promotes the uniform Li deposition with less Li dendrites and lower polarization in the Li-metal anode, which reduces the decomposition of the electrolyte and enables stable cycling of LMBs. This FEC/EFA-based electrolyte shows promising prospects in the application of high-performance LMBs, and it also provides a novel idea for the design of all-fluorinated high-performance electrolyte to advance the commercialization of LMBs.

Automated summary

A nonflammable functional electrolyte containing fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) and ethyl difluoroacetate (EFA) solvents was developed for rechargeable Li-metal batteries (LMBs) with LiNi(0.8)Co(0.1)Mn(0.1)O(2) cathode (NCM811), showing enhanced cycling retention and coulombic efficiency compared to fluorocarbonate-based and carbonate-based electrolytes. The FEC/EFA-based electrolyte facilitates the formation of a durable and highly fluorinated interfacial layer, promoting uniform Li deposition with less dendrites and polarization in the Li-metal anode.