Electroless plating of tin on copper foil (2-D) and foams (3-D) was used to create carbon- and binder-free thin films for solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) property investigation. When electrochemically cycled vs lithium metal in coin cells, the foam electrodes exhibited better cycling performance than the planar electrodes due to electrode curvature. The effect of the additive/cosolvent fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) was found to drastically improve the capacity retention and Coulombic efficiency of the cells. The additive amount of 2% FEC is enough to derive the benefits in the cells at a slow (C/9) cycling rate. The interfacial properties of Sn thin film electrodes in electrolyte with/without FEC additive were investigated using in situ electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (EQCM-D). The processes of the decomposition of the electrolyte on the electrode surface and Li alloying/dealloying with Sn were characterized quantitatively by surface mass change at the molecular level. FEC-containing electrolytes deposited less than electrolyte without FEC on the initial reduction sweep, yet increased the overall thickness/mass of SEI after several cyclic voltammetry cycles. EQCM-D studies demonstrate that the mass accumulated per mole of electrons (mpe) was varied in different voltage ranges, which reveals that the reduction products of the electrolyte with/without FEC are different.
Keywords: EQCM-D; FEC additive; LIB; electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance; tin anode.