Synergistic Dual‐Additive Electrolyte for Interphase Modification to Boost Cyclability of Layered Cathode for Sodium Ion Batteries

Abstract The electrolyte additive plays an important role in determining the crucial properties of batteries such as cycling stability and safety. Compared to material development, research on electrolyte and interphase is still in the early stage for sodium ion batteries (SIBs). Herein, for the first time, succinic anhydride (SA) is investigated as a synergistic filming additive to fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC), and the lifespan of the dual‐additive Na/Na 0.6 Li 0.15 Ni 0.15 Mn 0.55 Cu 0.15 O 2 (NLNMC) cell is significantly improved, maintaining capacity retention of 87.2% over 400 cycles at 1 C rate. For comparison, the batteries with only one of the two additives or without any additive show much inferior electrochemical performance. After the addition of SA, the interphase layer on the surface of cycled NLNMC material becomes uniform and stable, which contains more oxygen‐rich organic species and less NaF. Additionally, the addition of SA also has an impact on the interphase layer in the sodium anode part as indicated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) results. Moreover, the online differential electrochemical mass spectrometry (OEMS) tests show the dual‐additive cell has less CO 2 generation during the initial two cycles compared to that with only FECs which demonstrates another advantage of SA for practical application.