AUTHOR=Parekh Mihir N. , Rahn Christopher D. 

TITLE=Solid Electrolyte Interphase Growth in Lithium Metal Cells With Normal Electrolyte Flow

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemical Engineering

VOLUME=4

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemical-engineering/articles/10.3389/fceng.2022.828054

DOI=10.3389/fceng.2022.828054

ISSN=2673-2718

ABSTRACT=<p>In high energy density lithium metal batteries (LMBs), dendrite and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) growth reduce safety and longevity, respectively. A stable SEI layer enables high efficiency cycling but continued SEI growth can lead to reduced capacity and coulombic efficiency. In this paper, we develop a steady-state model that predicts the effect of small advective electrolyte flow towards the lithium metal electrode on SEI growth during charging. For a fixed current density, increasing the electrolyte flow rate improves the coulombic efficiency and decreases SEI layer growth rate. Decreasing the charging current density at a constant flow rate also decreases the SEI layer growth rate. Low flow rates (<italic>μm</italic>/<italic>s</italic>) can increase coulombic efficiency by up to 6%. The sensitivity of the coulombic efficiency to plating and SEI layer reaction rates is also explored.</p>