Nature Communications

Additive strongly-coordinated solvation structure towards high-voltage 600 Wh/kg-class lithium metal pouch cell

2026-08-24

Anions involved solvation structures have been widely designed to construct inorganic enriched interfaces to enable wide voltage window, which, however, sacrifices the anions and effective Li + conductivity. Here we propose an additive-coordinated solvation structure of Li + , with the preferred sacrifice of additive rather than anions, to realize stable cycling of 600 Wh kg⁻¹-scale Li metal batteries. Leveraging the molecular design of additives, even a trace amount addition allows for its coordination within the inner sheath of Li + solvation structure. This not only attenuates the excessive consumption of anions and solvent molecules, but also facilitates the formation of robust protective interface. Benefiting from these advantages, a 550.7 Wh kg⁻¹ Li | |LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 pouch cell maintains 80.0% capacity retention over 180 cycles at 0.1 C charge and 0.5 C discharge rate. Furthermore, the paired Li | | lithium-rich manganese-based layered oxide pouch cell achieves a specific energy of 602.5 Wh kg⁻¹, sustaining 80% capacity retention for 60 cycles at 0.1 C charge/discharge rate, thus validating the suitability of additive coordinated solvation structure.

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DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77095-x