An Additive Study for Water-in-Salt Electrolyte (WiSE) with Lithium Manganese Oxide (LMO) and Titanium Niobate (TNO) Electrodes

Abstract

Aqueous electrolytes are poised to eliminate numerous safety concerns relative to state-of-the-art organic electrolytes; however, they continue to suffer from parasitic side reactions that consume lithium and limit performance. In this study we performed additive screening of 10 species for water-in-salt electrolytes (WiSEs) with the goal of forming a more robust and resilient anode solid-electrolyte interphase against hydrogen evolution at the anode. Coin cells consisted of a high-loading LiMnO2 cathode (13.32 mg cm-2) and a low-loading TiNb2O7 anode (3.32 mg cm-2) to isolate the impact on anode performance. Down-selections were performed over the course of four experiments including 1) solubility, 2) impedance, 3) cycling retention, and 4) storage, with the baseline WiSE electrolyte outperforming all other WiSE-plus-additive compositions. However, the baseline WiSE electrolyte also suffered a 37 percent drop in energy density relative to similar cells with conventional organic electrolyte (1.0 M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate:diethyl carbonate [EC:DEC]). Storage tests proved particularly useful for determining the amount of parasitic current at certain cell potentials (2.3, 2.4, and 2.5 V), which correlates to coulombic inefficiency. These results indicate a pressing need to reduce parasitic reactions at the anode by investigating protective coatings and less-catalytic anode materials.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2022
Accession Number
AD1189023

Entities

People

  • Arthur Von Cresce
  • Brett Sweeney
  • Glenn Pastel
  • Jackson Carter
  • Janet Sun
  • Marshall A Schroeder
  • Matthew Sieh

Organizations

  • United States Army Research Laboratory

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Battery Technology and Engineering
  • Electrochemical Engineering/ Fuel Cell Technologies
  • Systems Analysis and Design