Temperature effects on Li4Ti5O12 electrode/electrolyte interfaces at the first cycle: A X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy and Scanning Auger Microscopy study

•High temperatures promote the formation of a thicker SEI.•XPS/SAM analysis along the first cycle evidence the SEI homogeneity.•Temperature modifies the SEI chemical nature.•Electrochemical performances vs temperature could be explained by the SEI features.

Li4Ti5O12-based negative electrodes for Lithium-ion batteries are of interest because of the high reversibility of Li+ insertion/extraction. In this study, the surface of cycled electrodes is analysed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Scanning Auger Microscopy (SAM) to investigate the effects of cycling temperature (room temperature, 60 °C and 85 °C) upon the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) formation, which plays a major role in batteries electrochemical performances. Half-cells, with a vinylene carbonate containing electrolyte, are galvanostatically cycled at different steps of the first cycle: the mid-plateau during the first discharge, the end of the first discharge at 1.2 V and the end of the first charge at 2.0 V. XPS analysis evidences that higher temperatures promote the formation of a thicker SEI, which can explain the increase of the irreversible capacity with temperature. SAM mappings (allowing high spatial resolution ∼10–100 nm) evidence that this SEI homogeneously covers the electrode surface, regardless of the cycling temperature. During charge, the SEI is partially dissolved at room temperature, more slightly at 60 °C whereas at 85 °C, no clear evidence of layer thinning is observed. The SEI chemical composition is also investigated and reveals a majority of organic species and an increasing proportion of LiF with the temperature.