Electrolyte additives: Adding the stability of lithium metal anodes

Abstract Lithium metal is regarded as the “holy grail” of anodes due to its highest theoretical specific capacity and lowest electrode potential, and hence is considered as a promising anode candidate to meet the growing demand for large scale energy storage devices. However, lithium metal anode is suffering the challenges in side reactions, volume change, and low Coulombic efficiency, and particularly the growth of lithium dendrites, which extremely limits its practical applications. To tackle these issues, many strategies have been developed. Among them, the addition of electrolyte additives is an effective and the simplest method. In this review, electrolyte additives for enhancing the stability of Li metal anodes are summarized, according to their different working mechanisms. The prospects of key challenges and future trends of such electrolyte additives are discussed.