Investigation of solid electrolyte interfacial layer development during continuous cycling using ac impedance spectra and micro-structural analysis

The formation of passivating surface films on the electrodes of a lithium-ion polymer battery was investigated at various cycling state using ac impedance spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A sealed commercial cell (Sony Co.) with a nominal capacity of 840 mAh was used for the experiment. An equivalent circuit used to model the impedance spectra show that, with continuous cycling there is a relatively large increase in the interfacial impedance and charge transfer resistances after a few hundred charge-discharge cycles. It was observed that the cell capacity decrease with increase cell impedance. SEM analysis on the electrodes shows that during continuous charge-discharge cycling, the deposition of sub-micro-size particles and dissolution of surface films on the graphite surface. This observation is consistent with increase in cell impedance as a function of charge/discharge cycling.