{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T09:56:23Z","timestamp":1791971783066,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Wiley","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791936000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791936000000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/doi.wiley.com\/10.1002\/tdm_license_1.1"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Small"],"abstract":"<jats:title>ABSTRACT<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    The development of non\u2013flammable electrolytes for sodium metal batteries (SMBs) presents a promising path toward enhancing energy density and safety, especially for large\u2013scale grid storage applications. While high\u2013concentration phosphate electrolytes have been reported to mitigate side reactions with sodium metal, their high viscosity, poor wettability, and high cost hinder practical implementation. To overcome these limitations, we introduce 1,2\u2013difluorobenzene (DFB) as a weakly solvating functional diluent to achieve localized high\u2013concentration electrolyte effects in a trimethyl phosphate (TMP)\u2010based electrolyte system. Contrary to the conventional assumption that diluents are electrochemically inert, we show that DFB participates in interfacial reactions and contributes to the formation of stable electrode interphases. Combined spectroscopic and surface analyses reveal an anion\u2010enriched solvation structure and the formation of a thin, homogeneous interphase, including a bilayer solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on sodium metal and a compact cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) on the cathode. Consequently, the NaFSI\u2013TMP\u2013DFB electrolyte delivers an average coulombic efficiency of 98.95% in Na||Cu cells, and Na||Na\n                    <jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>\n                    V\n                    <jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>\n                    (PO\n                    <jats:sub>4<\/jats:sub>\n                    )\n                    <jats:sub>3<\/jats:sub>\n                    full cells retain 85% of their capacity over 250 cycles at C\/2. This work highlights the potential of functional diluents for enabling stable and inherently safe SMB electrolytes.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1002\/smll.76069","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]],"date-time":"2026-10-14T09:41:40Z","timestamp":1791970900000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Fluorinated Aromatic Diluent Enabling Stable and Non\u2013flammable Phosphate Electrolytes for Sodium Metal Batteries"],"prefix":"10.1002","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5677-0587","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sridhar","family":"Sethuram Markandaraj","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1767-0575","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rinish Reddy","family":"Vaidyula","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5653-0439","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andrei","family":"Dolocan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Texas Materials Institute The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7318-6115","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kenta","family":"Kawashima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7746-0409","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ziqing","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-7942-1209","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kyla","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Chemistry The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1030-4801","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"C. 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Bard Center for Electrochemistry The University of Texas at Austin Austin Texas USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41560\u2010024\u201001469\u2010y"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/adma.201800561"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/adma.202312508"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/adma.201903891"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cej.2026.179330"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"27086","DOI":"10.1002\/anie.202112382","article-title":"Fire\u2010Retardant, Stable\u2010Cycling and High\u2010Safety Sodium Ion Battery","volume":"60","author":"Yang Z.","year":"2021","journal-title":"Angewandte Chemie International Edition"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41560\u2010017\u20100033\u20108"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ensm.2024.103407"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/sciadv.1601978"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467\u2010024\u201052766\u20109"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4778","DOI":"10.1021\/acs.chemrev.3c00728","article-title":"Emerging Chemistry for Wide\u2010Temperature Sodium\u2010Ion Batteries","volume":"124","author":"Zhang F.","year":"2024","journal-title":"Chemical Reviews"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.est.2024.111179"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1002\/smsc.202100058","article-title":"Thermally Stable and Nonflammable Electrolytes for Lithium Metal Batteries: Progress and Perspectives","volume":"1","author":"Zhang Q. 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