A LiPF6-LiFSI Blended-Salt Electrolyte System for Improved Electrochemical Performance of Anode-Free Batteries

ANODE-free Li-metal batteries (AFLMBs) operating with Li of cathode material have attracted enormous attention due to their exceptional energy density originating from anode-free structure in the confined cell volume. However, uncontrolled dendritic growth of lithium on a copper current collector can limit its practical application as it causes fatal issues for stable cycling such as dead Li formation, unstable solid electrolyte interphase, electrolyte exhaustion, and internal short-circuit. To overcome this limitation, here, we report a novel dual-salt electrolyte comprising of 0.2 M LiPF₆ + 3.8 M lithium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide in a carbonate/ester co-solvent with 5 wt% fluoroethylene carbonate, 2 wt% vinylene carbonate, and 0.2 wt% LiNO₃ additives. Because the dual-salt electrolyte facilitates uniform/dense Li deposition on the current collector and can form robust/ionic conductive LiF-based SEI layer on the deposited Li, a Li/Li symmetrical cell exhibits improved cycling performance and low polarization for over 200 h operation. Furthermore, the anode-free LiFePO₄/Cu cells in the carbonate electrolyte shows significantly enhanced cycling stability compared to the counterparts consisting of different salt ratios. This study shows an importance of electrolyte design guiding uniform Li deposition and forming stable SEI layer for AFLMBs.