The factors affecting the cell performance of non-aqueous electrolytes in primary Li/air batteries operated in an ambient environment were investigated. Four organic additives or co-solvents were also evaluated in electrolytes for Li/air batteries. It has been found that the polarity of an electrolyte is a critical factor for the performance of Li/air batteries. This factor overweighs the effects from the viscosity, ionic conductivity, and oxygen solubility of the electrolytes. In addition, the volume of electrolyte added to a cell significantly affects the discharge performance of a Li/air battery. The strong Lewis base tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane reduces the discharge capacity of a Li/air battery even though its ability to dissolve a certain amount of lithium oxide was supposed to improve the cell performance of Li/air batteries. Addition of two crown ethers, 12-crown-4 and 15-crown-5, especially the former one, can significantly improve the discharge performance of the Li/air cells with electrolytes containing about 15% by weight of such compounds as co-solvents. However, addition of 18-crown-6 decreases the cell performance. The differences among the three crown ethers were investigated.
Revised: June 23, 2010 |
Published: December 18, 2009
Citation
Xu W., J. Xiao, D. Wang, J. Zhang, and J. Zhang. 2009.Effects of Nonaqueous Electrolytes on the Performance of Primary Lithium/Air Batteries.Journal of the Electrochemical Society 157, no. 2:A219-A224.PNNL-SA-68519.doi:10.1149/1.3269928