Revision 1

Superseded · first revision · record

Title: Structure and growth law of the battery solid-electrolyte interphase
Plain: In lithium-ion batteries the electrolyte partly decomposes on the negative electrode and forms a thin film, the solid-electrolyte interphase, which passes lithium ions but blocks electrons. Its structure and why it keeps slowly thickening set battery lifetime but are known only roughly.
Precise: For graphite and lithium-metal anodes in carbonate electrolytes (for example 1 mol/L LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate and ethyl methyl carbonate), determine the nanoscale arrangement of inorganic (LiF, Li2CO3, Li2O) and organic phases in the solid-electrolyte interphase (SEI), the transport process that sustains its growth (electron tunneling, neutral lithium interstitial diffusion, solvent diffusion through pores), and the resulting thickness law $L(t)$, often reported near $t^{1/2}$. An answer is a model with first-principles rate parameters that predicts $L(t)$ and the measured calendar-aging capacity loss.
Settled by: Cryogenic microscopy and depth-resolved spectroscopy of SEI composition over aging time, matched by a first-principles growth model.
Kind: phenomenon
Answer type: mechanism
References: (empty)
Literature status: open
Status note: (empty)
Posed since: (empty)