Fig. 4: Analysis of solvation clusters and CEI properties.

a LUMO and HOMO of the solvation clusters, as seen in Fig. 2f, with orbital wavefunctions in red and green. b N 1s XPS spectra of the NNM electrode cycled with R-G2-electrolyte, with Ar⁺ ion sputtering. c LSV measurements evaluating the stability of the CEI layer within NNM, with preconditioning in R-G2 electrolyte indicated by the blue trace and without such preconditioning by the red trace. The inset provides an enlarged view of the plot in the potential range of 2.5–4.25 V. d, e HRTEM images depicting CEI regions and (f) in-depth XPS spectra of NNM electrodes after 5 cycles in both G2 and R-G2 electrolytes.