A salt-philic, solvent-phobic lithium metal anode coating design

Researchers in the Zhenan Bao Group and the Yi Cui Group have developed a Salt-Philic, Solvent-Phobic (SP2) Li anode polymer coating that dramatically out performs state of the art Li anode coatings/electrolyte strategies battery cycle life. Lithium metal batteries (LMBs) show great potential as next-generation batteries, but they suffer capacity degradation caused by whisker-shaped lithium growth at the lithium metal and electrolyte interface The Salt-Philic Solvent-Phobic polymer coating selectively transports salt over solvent and fosters salt-derived solid electrolyte interface (SEI) formation (see figure 1), which stabilizes the interface and enhances cycling performance in several solvents, such as ether, carbonate, and fluorinated ether. Li||NMC cells with SP2 anodic coating enhanced cycle life by nearly 2X for a high-performance fluorinated-ether electrolyte and a standard carbonate electrolyte. The highly compatible SP2 coating can be further improved as promising electrolytes become available.

Stage of Development – Proof of Concept
The Zhenan Bao Group and the Yi Cui Group optimized the coating to improve battery cell performance for ether, carbonate, and fluorinated ether electrolytes. The SP² coating can be extended to other polymer chemistries and emerging electrolytes in future research.