The cycling behaviour and stability of the lithium electrode in propylene carbonate and acetonitrile electrolytes

Abstract

The conductivity and chemical stability with lithium of various electrolytes containing propylene carbonate (PC) and acetonitrile (AN) were determined. Addition of AN improved the conductivity of LiClO 4/PC and LiAsF 6/PC electrolytes, and the LiAsF 6/PC-AN electrolyte showed remarkable chemical stability in contact with lithium. The lithium cycling efficiency was determined on nickel and aluminium substrates in the various electrolytes over a range of current density. While the efficiencies observed on nickel substrates were very poor for all AN-containing electrolytes, efficiencies approaching those for electrolytes containing only PC were obtained with the LiAsF 6/PC-AN electrolyte at low current densities (∼1 mA cm −2) on aluminium substrates. It was concluded that the LiAsF 6/PC-AN electrolyte had generally favourable characteristics and may prove suitable for primary battery applications.