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Summary Incorporation of silicon into negative electrodes is pursued widely to increase the energy density of lithium ion batteries (LIBs). However, severe volume changes of silicon during (de)lithiation cause consumption of active lithium and electrolyte by continuous solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, resulting in deterioration of cell performance. Electrolyte additives offer an unprecedented way to improve LIB cell performance by effective interphase formation. Here, we report a class of electrolyte additives based on substituted N-carboxyanhydrides (N-CAs) designed to effectively tailor the SEI formed in LiNi0.5Co0.2Mn0.3O2 (NCM523) ∥ SiOx/C full cells, which are evaluated in pouch cells with application-relevant electrolyte per-cell capacity ratios. The working mechanism is elucidated systematically by use of complementary postmortem techniques, correlating cycling and storage performance data, gas formation, SEI composition, and electrolyte degradation. With successful additive functionalization, several N-CAs even outperform the state-of-the-art additive fluoroethylene carbonate in terms of capacity retention.

Parasitic gas evolution in lithium ion battery (LIB) cells especially occurs within the first charge cycle, but can also take place during long-term cycling and storage, thereby, negatively affecting the cell performance. Gas formation is influenced by various factors, such as the cell chemistry and operating conditions, thus, demanding fundamental studies in terms of interphase and gas formation (gas volume and composition) and electrolyte consumption. Gas analyses in terms of mass spectrometry of gaseous products are regularly performed, however, usually using custom-made cell designs with a high excess of electrolyte. Here, a gas sampling port (GSP) is incorporated in a commercial small-scale multilayer pouch cell in a simple post-production process and systematically evaluated as proof-of-principle approach towards effective electrolyte additive research under practically relevant conditions, i.e., when applying a limited amount of electrolyte per cell capacity. The GSP-based LIB pouch cell design allows the voltage-dependent identification and separation of formed gases, while a clear correlation between electrolyte reduction peaks, observed in differential capacity profiles, and the onset of gas evolution is demonstrated. In summary, the novel GSP-based pouch cell setup benefits from the possibility of multiple time-, cell voltage- or state-of-charge-dependent gas measurements, without significantly influencing the original cell performance.