The issues of inherent low anodic stability and high flammability hinder the deployment of the etherbased electrolytes in practical high-voltage lithium metal batteries. Here, we report a rationally designed etherbased electrolyte with chlorine functionality on ether molecular structure to address these critical challenges. The chloroether-based electrolyte demonstrates a high Li Coulombic efficiency of 99.2 % and a high capacity retention > 88 % over 200 cycles for Ni-rich cathodes at an ultrahigh cut-off voltage of 4.6 V (stable even up to 4.7 V). The chloroether-based electrolyte not only greatly improves electrochemical stabilities of Ni-rich cathodes under ultrahigh voltages with interphases riched in LiF and LiCl, but possesses the intrinsic nonflammable safety feature owing to the flame-retarding ability of chlorine functional groups. This study offers a new approach to enable ether-based electrolytes for high energy density, long-life and safe Li metal batteries.

Electrocatalytic CO2 reduction reaction (CO2RR) is one of the most promising routes to facilitate carbon neutrality. An alkaline electrolyte is typically needed to promote the production of valuable multi-carbon molecules (such as ethylene). However, the reaction between CO2 and OH– consumes a significant quantity of CO2/alkali and causes the rapid decay of CO2RR selectivity and stability. Here, we design a catalyst–electrolyte interface with an effective electrostatic confinement of in situ generated OH– to improve ethylene electrosynthesis from CO2 in neutral medium. In situ Raman measurements indicate the direct correlation between ethylene selectivity and the intensities of surface Cu–CO and Cu–OH species, suggesting the promoted C–C coupling with the surface enrichment of OH–. Thus, we report a CO2-to-ethylene Faradaic efficiency (FE) of 70% and a partial current density of 350 mA cm–2 at −0.89 V vs the reversible hydrogen electrode. Furthermore, the system demonstrated a 50 h stable operation at 300 mA cm–2 with an average ethylene FE of ∼68%. This study offers a universal strategy to tune the reaction micro-environment, and a significantly improved ethylene FE of 64.5% was obtained even in acidic electrolytes (pH = 2).

No abstract

Electrolytes are critical for the reversibility of various electrochemical energy storage systems. The recent development of electrolytes for high-voltage Li-metal batteries has been counting on the salt anion chemistry for building stable interphases. Herein, we investigate the effect of the solvent structure on the interfacial reactivity and discover profound solvent chemistry of designed monofluoro-ether in anion-enriched solvation structures, which enables enhanced stabilization of both high-voltage cathodes and Li-metal anodes. Systematic comparison of different molecular derivatives provides an atomic-scale understanding of the unique solvent structure-dependent reactivity. The interaction between Li + and the monofluoro (−CH 2 F) group significantly influences the electrolyte solvation structure and promotes the monofluoro-ether-based interfacial reactions over the anion chemistry. With indepth analyses of the compositions, charge transfer, and ion transport at interfaces, we demonstrated the essential role of the monofluoro-ether solvent chemistry in tailoring highly protective and conductive interphases (with enriched LiF at full depths) on both electrodes, as opposed to the anion-derived ones in typical concentrated electrolytes. As a result, the solvent-dominant electrolyte chemistry enables a high Li Coulombic efficiency (∼99.4%) and stable Li anode cycling at a high rate (10 mA cm −2 ), together with greatly improved cycling stability of 4.7 V-class nickel-rich cathodes. This work illustrates the underlying mechanism of the competitive solvent and anion interfacial reaction schemes in Li-metal batteries and offers fundamental insights into the rational design of electrolytes for future high-energy batteries.

Albeit ethers are favorable electrolyte solvents for lithium (Li) metal anode, their inferior oxidation stability (< 4.0 V vs. Li/Li + ) is problematic for highvoltage cathodes. Studies of ether electrolytes have been focusing on the archetype glyme structure with ethylene oxide moieties. Herein, we unveil the crucial effect of ion coordination configuration on oxidation stability by varying the ether backbone structure. The designed 1,3dimethoxypropane (DMP, C3) forms a unique sixmembered chelating complex with Li + , whose stronger solvating ability suppresses oxidation side reactions. In addition, the favored hydrogen transfer reaction between C3 and anion induces a dramatic enrichment of LiF (a total atomic ratio of 76.7 %) on the cathode surface. As a result, the C3-based electrolyte enables greatly improved cycling of nickel-rich cathodes under 4.7 V. This study offers fundamental insights into rational electrolyte design for developing high-energy-density batteries.