Molecular Design of Stable Sulfamide- and Sulfonamide-Based Electrolytes for Aprotic Li-O₂ Batteries

Lithium-oxygen (Li-O₂) batteries can potentially transform energy storage and transportation with a several-fold increase in energy density over the state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. The development of rechargeable Li-O₂ batteries faces substantial challenges, such as severe electrolyte instability against the highly reactive oxygen species, including superoxide, peroxide, and singlet oxygen, generated during Li-O₂ battery operation. To date, the vast majority of studies in this field have been based on electrolytes derived from a small set of well-studied, commercially available components (e.g., solvents such as tetraglyme and DMSO and salts such as lithium bis(trifluoromethane)sulfonimide [LiTFSI]). Although great progress has been made through optimization of such formulations, the use of physical organic chemistry principles to rationally design new molecular components may enable the discovery of electrolytes with stability profiles that cannot be achieved with existing formulations.