• • Commercial LIBs retain only 80% capacity at −20 °C and 90% at 55 °C relative to room temperature, establishing the baseline performance gap that electrolyte additives must close for electric vehicles in cold climates and tropical high-power applications.
• • LiPF6 hydrolysis at elevated temperatures generates corrosive HF, accelerating SEI/CEI instability and transition-metal dissolution; additives such as 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) inhibit cyclic ether polymerization, enabling wide-temperature-range high-rate cycling in LIBs (Adv. Sci. 2024, 12, 2409259).
• • Low-temperature operation is limited by sluggish Li+ desolvation and increased electrolyte viscosity; nitrile-based electrolytes with engineered passivation layers (Energy Fuels 2025, 39, 7538–7549) and localized high-concentration 1,3-dioxolane systems with LiNO3 (Adv. Energy Mater. 2024, 14, 2401961) demonstrate improved Li+ migration and dendrite suppression at ultralow temperatures.
• • Multifunctional additives such as those in Nat. Commun. 2025, 16, 3344 enable high-power lithium metal batteries at ultra-low temperatures, while non-flammable formulations (J. Mater. Chem. A 2021, 9, 15363–15372) extend cycle life over a wide temperature range, directly addressing safety and longevity bottlenecks for grid storage and defense applications.