Electrochemical windows of sulfone-based electrolytes for high-voltage Li-ion batteries

Further development of high-voltage lithium-ion batteries requires electrolytes with electrochemical windows greater than 5 V. Sulfone-based electrolytes are promising for such a purpose. Here we compute the electrochemical windows for experimentally tested sulfone electrolytes by different levels of theory in combination with various solvation models. The MP2 method combined with the polarizable continuum model is shown to be the most accurate method to predict oxidation potentials of sulfone-based electrolytes with mean deviation less than 0.29 V. Mulliken charge analysis shows that the oxidation happens on the sulfone group for ethylmethyl sulfone and tetramethylene sulfone, and on the ether group for ether functionalized sulfones. Large electrochemical windows of sulfone-based electrolytes are mainly contributed by the sulfone group in the molecules which helps lower the HOMO level. This study can help understand the voltage limits imposed by the sulfone-based electrolytes and aid in designing new electrolytes with greater electrochemical windows.