An Anion‐Tuned Solid Electrolyte Interphase with Fast Ion Transfer Kinetics for Stable Lithium Anodes
Zhenxing Wang, Fulai Qi, Lichang Yin, Ying Shi, Chengguo Sun, Baigang An, Hui–Ming Cheng, Feng Li
Abstract
Abstract The spatial distribution and transport characteristics of lithium ions (Li + ) in the electrochemical interface region of a lithium anode in a lithium ion battery directly determine Li + deposition behavior. The regulation of the Li + solvation sheath on the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) by electrolyte chemistry is key but challenging. Here, 1 m lithium trifluoroacetate (LiTFA) is induced to the electrolyte to regulate the Li + solvation sheath, which significantly suppresses Li dendrite formation and enables a high Coulombic efficiency of 98.8% over 500 cycles. With its strong coordination between the carbonyl groups (CO) and Li + , TFA − modulates the environment of the Li + solvation sheath and facilitates fast desolvation kinetics. In addition, due to relatively smaller lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy than solvents, TFA − has a preferential reduction to produce a stable SEI with uniform distribution of LiF and Li 2 O. Such stable SEI effectively reduces the energy barrier for Li + diffusion, contributing to low nucleation overpotential, fast ion transfer kinetics, and uniform Li + deposition with high cycling stability. This work provides an alternative insight into the design of interface chemistry in terms of regulating anions in the Li + solvation sheath. It is anticipated that this anion‐tuned strategy will pave the way to construct stable SEIs for other battery systems.