Investigation of the cathodic interfacial stability of a nitrile electrolyte and its performance with a high-voltage LiCoO2 cathode

The limited discharge capacity of LiCoO2 can be improved by increasing its working potential, but it suffers from Co4+ dissolution and decomposition of the electrolyte. Nitriles have attracted great interest as high-voltage electrolytes due to their wide electrochemical window. However, the cathodic interfacial stability of nitrile electrolytes with a high-voltage LiCoO2 cathode has yet to be explored. Herein, we adopted an SN-based deep eutectic electrolyte with SN as the only solvent and found that Co4+ could be reduced by the SN solvent on the interface of the LiCoO2 electrode, causing a reverse phase change of LiCoO2 and severe self-discharge of the LiCoO2|Li and LiCoO2|Li4Ti5O12 batteries. When LiDFOB was introduced into the electrolyte, the self-discharge behavior of cells could be largely decelerated. The series of characterizations performed in our work revealed that the cathode/electrolyte interface generated from the LiDFOB salt could stabilize the interface of LiCoO2 and suppress the dissolution of the ions of the transition metal Co.