New Technique for Probing the Protecting Character of the Solid Electrolyte Interphase as a Critical but Elusive Property for Pursuing Long Cycle Life Lithium-Ion Batteries

The formation of a protecting nano-layer, so-called Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI), on the negative electrode of Li-ion batteries (LIBs) from product precipitation of the cathodic decomposition of the electrolyte is a blessing since the electrically-insulating nature of this nano-layer protect the electrode surface preventing continuous electrolyte decomposition and enabling the large nominal cell voltage of LIBs, e.g. 3.3 – 3.8 V. Thus, the protecting performance of the nano-layer SEI is essential for LIBs to achieve long cycle life. Unfortunately, evaluation of this critical property of the SEI is not trivial. Herein, a new, cheap and easily-implementable methodology is presented to estimate the protecting quality of the SEI; the redox-mediated enhanced coulometry. The key element of the methodology is the addition of a redox-mediator in the electrolyte during degassing step (after the SEI formation cycle). The redox-mediator leads to an internal self-discharge process that is inversely proportional to the protecting character of the SEI. And the self-discharge process results in an easily-measurable decrease in coulombic efficiency. The influence of vinylene carbonate as electrolyte additive in the resulting SEI is used as case study to showcase the potential of the proposed methodology