Adding Nitriles to Lithium ion batteries gives them a boost

 Nitriles as efficient electrolyte additives are widely used in high-voltage lithium-ion batteries. However, their working mechanisms are still mysterious, especially in practical high-voltage LiCoO2 pouch lithium-ion batteries. The LiCoO2/graphite pouch cells with the HTCN additive electrolyte possess superior cycling performance, 90% retention of the initial capacity after 800 cycles at 25 °C, and 72% retention after 500 cycles at 45 °C, which is feasible for practical application.  A group of electrochemists from Tsinghua University have used advanced microscopy techniques to take a closer look at what happens at the molecular scale and identified what is going on, opening up new avenues for even further battery performance improvements.

Photo ​Tang, C., Chen, Y., Zhang, Z. et al. Stable cycling of practical high-voltage LiCoO2 pouch cell via electrolyte modification. Nano Res. (2022)