Decomposition of Phosphorus-Containing Additives at a Charged NMC Surface through Potentiostatic Holds
In this work, multiple phosphorus-containing compounds were evaluated as electrolyte additives for their reactivity at the cathode surface using LiNi 0.5 Mn 0.3 Co 0.2 O 2 (NMC532) // Li 4 Ti 5 O 12 (LTO) cells with both cycling and high voltage potentiostatic holds. Additives surveyed include phosphite and phosphate derivatives with either trifluoroethyl, ethyl, or trimethylsilyl groups. With the same substituents, phosphite additives showed lower Coulombic efficiency (CE) and higher oxidation current during the potentiostatic hold. Regardless of substitution group, all phosphates showed slightly higher CE than the additive-free electrolyte (baseline), although no additive significantly decreases oxidation reactions over the course of the potentiostatic hold. Post-mortem X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the cathodes indicates that the additive with trimethylsilyl group leads to significantly higher incidence of oxygen and phosphorus on the cathode surface for both phosphites and phosphates. Atomistic simulations indicate the susceptibility of these additives to electrochemical and chemical oxidation, showing chemical oxidation to be much more likely with the phosphite additives. Lastly, the identity of the ligands on the phosphorus-containing additive can dramatically affect both the decomposition current as well as cathode surface after the potentiostatic hold.