Stable Harsh-Temperature Lithium Metal Batteries Enabled by Tailoring Solvation Structure in Ether Electrolytes

• Published in: ACS nano 2023-10, Vol.17 (20), p.19625-19639
• Main Authors: Liu, Yongchuan, Lin, Yuansheng, Yang, Zhanlin, Lin, Changxin, Zhang, Xiangxin, Chen, Sujing, Hu, Guolin, Sa, Baisheng, Chen, Yuanqiang, Zhang, Yining
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1936-0851; 1936-086X
• DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c01895

For lithium metal batteries (LMBs), the elevated operating temperature results in severe capacity fading and safety issues due to unstable electrode–electrolyte interphases and electrolyte solvation structures. Therefore, it is crucial to construct advanced electrolytes capable of tolerating harsh environments to ensure stable LMBs. Here, we proposed a stable localized high-concentration electrolyte (LHCE) by introducing the highly solvating power solvent diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DGDME). Computational and experimental evidence discloses that the original DGDME-LHCE shows favorable features for high-temperature LMBs, including high Li+-binding stability, electro-oxidation resistance, thermal stability, and nonflammability. The tailored solvated sheath structure achieves the preferred decomposition of anions, inducing the stable (cathode and Li anode)/interphases simultaneously, which enables a homogeneous Li plating–stripping behavior on the anode side and a high-voltage tolerance on the cathode side. For the Li||Li cells coupled with DGDME-LHCE, they showcase outstanding reversibility (a long lifespan of exceeding 1900 h). We demonstrate exceptional cyclic stability (∼95.59%, 250 cycles), high Coulombic efficiency (>99.88%), and impressive high-voltage (4.5 V) and high-temperature (60 °C) performances in Li||NCM523 cells using DGDME-LHCE. Our advances shed light on an encouraging ether electrolyte tactic for the Li-metal batteries confronted with stringent high-temperature challenges.