Abstract
The volume of electrolyte used in commercial cylindrical rechargeable Li-ion batteries needs to be closely controlled to optimize performance. It is widely reported in the open literature that insufficient electrolyte can negatively impact cycling performance. However, there are scant reports showing the impact of excessive amounts of electrolyte on cell performance. Here, we show that adding excessive amounts of electrolyte also negatively impacts the cycling performance, causing cells to show faster capacity fade. The effect can be quite significant, causing a noticeable difference within the first 30 cycles, particularly at higher discharge rates (e.g., 1C to 2C rates, Figure 1). It is important to understand the causes of this "high-volume effect" because it sets an additional constraint on the optimization of the system. We have carried out extensive electrochemical impedance measurements of commercial 3.5 Ah 18650 cylindrical cells with various levels of electrolyte (LiPF6/EC/DMC/EMC; 15/25/56/4 wt%) using PEIS and GEIS protocols at an ambient temperature of 25°C. The collected impedance patterns exhibit typical two loop features reported in the literature 1,2 and were modelled by a series combination of one resistance and two parallel R/C elements to extract the cell ohmic and charge transfer resistance values. The total cell resistance of cells with both nominal and high-volume electrolyte show impedance growth during cycling. However, the high-volume cell shows noticeably higher growth of charge transfer resistance. Details of the experimental work and possible mechanism of this effect will be discussed during the presentation.
References
N. Ogihara et al., J. Electrochem. Soc., 159, A1034–A1039 (2012).
W. Waag, S. Käbitz, and D. U. Sauer, Appl. Energy, 102, 885–897 (2013).
Figure 1