Sulfolane-Based Ethylene Carbonate-Free Electrolytes for LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2-Li4Ti5O12 Batteries

Most electrolytes in today's lithium-ion batteries contain a large proportion of ethylene carbonate (EC) mixed with other alkyl carbonate-based solvents. EC has, however, been shown to be unstable at the high potentials at which several novel cathode materials are electrochemically active. Here, different mixtures of sulfolane and DMC are investigated in this context. The electrochemical stability is explored in addition to galvanostatic cycling of LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2-Li4Ti5O12 (NMC-LTO) cells. The measurement of the ionic conductivity showed that mixing 25 % sulfolane into DMC improved the electrolyte properties as compared to pure DMC, making the conductivity similar to EC:DEC electrolytes and therefore fully functional. Moreover, the addition of sulfolane slightly enhanced the capacity retention, likely caused by formation of thinner and more stable surface layers on the LTO electrodes as determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The cycling performance is especially improved for sulfolane-based electrolytes during cycling at sub-zero temperatures.