Influence of CsNO₃ as electrolyte additive on electrochemical property of lithium anode in rechargeable battery

Abstract

Lithium metal is one of the most promising anode materials for rechargeable battery with high energy density, but its practical use is still hindered by two main problems, namely, lithium dendrite growth and low Coulombic efficiency. To address the issues, cesium nitrate (CsNO₃) is selected as the additive to modify the electrolyte for lithium secondary battery. Here we report electrochemical performance of lithium secondary battery with different concentration of CsNO₃ as electrolyte additive. The study result demonstrates that Coulombic efficiency of Li—Cu cells and the lifetime of symmetric lithium cells contained CsNO3 additive are improved greatly. Li—Cu cell with 0.05 mol/L CsNO₃ and 0.15 mol/L LiNO₃ as electrolyte additive presents the best electrochemical performance, having the highest Coulombic efficiency of around 97% and the lowest interfacial resistance. With increasing the concentration of CsNO₃ as electrolyte additive, the electrochemical performance of cells becomes poor. Meanwhile, the morphology of lithium deposited films with CsNO₃-modified electrolyte become smoother and more uniform compared with the basic electrolyte.

Keywords

cesium nitrate / lithium anode / electrolyte additive / Coulombic efficiency / electrochemical properties / morphology

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