Improving Cyclic Stability of LiMn2O4/Graphite Battery Under Elevated Temperature by Using 1, 3-Propane Sultone as Electrolyte Additive

Xinxi Li,Guoqing Zhang,Lin Guo,Shumin Li,Bin Li,Long Liu

doi:10.3389/fmats.2020.00263

Abstract

Spinel lithium manganese oxide (LiMn2O4) based Li-ion battery (LIB) is attractive for hybrid/full electric vehicles because of its abundant resources and easy preparation. However, operation under an elevated temperature could cause severe capacity fading of the spinel cathodes. In this work, 1, 3-propane sultone (PS) is investigated as an electrolyte additive for improving the cyclability of the LiMn2O4/graphite LIB at elevated temperature. The charge and discharge measurement proves that PS can significantly enhance the cyclability of 053048-type LiMn2O4/graphite pouch cell at 60 ◦C. Compared to the cell without additive, the capacity retention of the cell using electrolyte with 5 % PS increases from 52 to 71% after 180 cycles. The improved cyclability is attributable to the modification of the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) on both positive and negative sides of the LiMn2O4/graphite cell by PS, which effectively prevents anode and cathode from structural breakdown and inhibits the electrolyte decomposition.

Highlights

Li-ion battery (LIB) is successfully applied in portable electronic equipment and is scaled up for hybrid/full electric vehicles and grid storage for renewable energy sources (Cheng et al, 2017; Yu et al, 2020)
When the concentration of propane sultone (PS) is 5 wt.%, a most effective solid electrolyte interface (SEI) film was formed on the electrodes
This phenomenon suggests that excess PS might lead to the formation of a thicker SEI film on the electrode which would hinder the transport of Li+ in the cells

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Li-ion battery (LIB) is successfully applied in portable electronic equipment and is scaled up for hybrid/full electric vehicles and grid storage for renewable energy sources (Cheng et al, 2017; Yu et al, 2020). The sulfur-containing substances generated from the additives decomposition can deactivate many catalysts (Czekaj et al, 2011) It helps to build protective surface film on the electrode and suppress decomposition of the electrolyte, which leads to the improved performance of the cell. PS has been applied as suppress propylene carbonate (PC) co-intercalation co-solvent and additive to improve the thermal storage performance in LiMn2O4/graphite cell, the behavior of PS on the cathode reactions, modification of the anode SEI, and thermal cyclability of the cell have not been clearly investigated. The effect of PS on the cell cyclability at high operating temperature was investigated and the morphologies and chemical compositions of the surface films of the cycled electrodes were presented. The binding energy was calibrated based on the C 1s level at 284.3 eV (C-C)

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT