Increased Cycling Efficiency of Lithium Anodes in Dimethyl Sulfoxide Electrolytes For Use in Li-O2 Batteries

High lithium cycling efficiencies are required if a metal anode system is to be considered for use in Li-O2 batteries. In this work electrolyte additives (0.3 M LiNO3 and 0.14 M VC) were used to increase the efficiency from 25 to 82.5% in the topical DMSO based electrolyte. Furthermore, we show that oxygen also acts to improve the cycling efficiency to 87%. This work highlights the importance of anode considerations in the development of metal O2 batteries in alternative solvents (DMSO, Acetonitrile and DMA) and suggests realistic strategies for performance improvements.