Highly soluble organic nitrate additives for practical lithium metal batteries

The stability of lithium metal anodes essentially dictates the lifespan of high-energy-density lithium metal batteries.Lithium nitrate(LiNO_(3))is widely recognized as an effective additive to stabilize lithium metal anodes by forming LiN_(x)O_(y)-containing solid electrolyte interphase(SEI).However,its poor solubility in electrolytes,especially ester electrolytes,hinders its applications in lithium metal batteries.Herein,an organic nitrate,isosorbide nitrate(ISDN),is proposed to replace LiNO_(3).ISDNhas a high solubility of 3.3M in ester electrolytes due to the introduction of organic segments in the molecule.The decomposition of ISDN generates LiN_(x)O_(y)-rich SEI,enabling uniform lithium deposition.The lifespan of lithium metal batteries with ISDN significantly increases from 80 to 155 cycles under demanding conditions.Furthermore,a lithium metal pouch cell of 439Whkg^(−1) delivers 50 cycles.This work opens a new avenue to develop additives by molecular modifications for practical lithium metal batteries.

Characterization of submicron particles during autumn in Beijing,China

In this study, we performed a highly time-resolved chemical characterization of nonrefractory submicron particles（NR-PM_1） in Beijing by using an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer（HR-ToF-AMS）. The results showed the average NR-PM_1 mass concentration to be 56.4 ± 58.0 μg/m^3, with a peak at 307.4 μg/m^3. Due to the high frequency of biomass burning in autumn, submicron particles significantly increased in organic content, which accounted for 51% of NR-PM_1 on average. Secondary inorganic aerosols（sulfate ＋ nitrate ＋ ammonium） accounted for 46% of NR-PM_1, of which sulfate,nitrate, and ammonium contributed 15%, 20%, and 11%, respectively. To determine the intrinsic relationships between the organic and inorganic species, we used the positive matrix factorization（PMF） model to merge the high-resolution mass spectra of the organic species and NO＋and NO_2~＋ions. The PMF analysis separated the mixed organic and nitrate（NO＋and NO_2~＋） spectra into four organic factors, including hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol（HOA）, oxygenated organic aerosol（OOA）, cooking organic aerosol（COA）, and biomass burning organic aerosol（BBOA）, as well as one nitrate inorganic aerosol（NIA） factor. COA（33%） and OOA（30%） contributed the most to the total organic aerosol（OA） mass, followed by BBOA（20%） and HOA（17%）. We successfully quantified the mass concentrations of the organic and inorganic nitrates by the NO＋and NO2＋ions signal in the organic and NIA factors. The organic nitrate mass varied from 0.01-6.8 μg/m^3, with an average of 1.0 ±1.1 μg/m^3, and organic nitrate components accounted for 10% of the total nitrate mass in this observation.

Characterization and source identification of submicron aerosol dur ing ser ious haze pollution periods in Beijing

Submicron aerosol is of extensive concern not only due to its significant impact on air quality but also because it is detrimental to human health.In this study,we investigated the characteristics,sources and chemical processes of submicron aerosol based on realtime online measurements of submicron aerosols(NR-PM 1)during December 2015 at an urban site in Beijing.The average mass concentration of NR-PM 1 was 92.5±84.9μg/m^(3),the hourly maximum was 459.1μg/m^(3) during the entire observation.The organic aerosol(OA)(55%)was the largest contributor to NR-PM 1.The average mass concentration of PAHs was 0.217±0.247μg/m^(3),exhibiting the highest concentration at night and the lowest levels in the daytime.The average mass concentration of organic nitrate was 2.52±2.36μg/m^(3) and that of inorganic nitrate was 7.62±8.22μg/m^(3),accounting for 36%and 64%,respectively,of the total nitrate mass.Positive matrix factorization(PMF)differentiated the OA into five chemical components including LV-OOA,SV-OOA,COA,HOA and CCOA,accounting for 22%,16%,13%,25%and 24%respectively,of the total OA.The average NR-PM 1 mass concentration on the heavy polluted days(HPD)was 182.8±70.2μg/m^(3),which was approximately 9 times that on clean days(CD).The enhanced secondary formation of SNA was evident on HPD,especially the rapid increase of sulfate(23%)and nitrate(19%).