Battery knowledge · Electrochemistry fundamentals

HOMO–LUMO gap

The energy gap between a molecule’s highest occupied and lowest unoccupied orbitals, used to screen electrolyte components. A solvent whose LUMO lies below the negative electrode’s Fermi level is reduced, and one whose HOMO lies above the positive electrode’s is oxidised; additives such as vinylene carbonate are chosen to reduce before the main solvent and build the SEI.

Also called
HOMO, LUMO, frontier orbitals, highest occupied molecular orbital, lowest unoccupied molecular orbital

Example

Electrochemistry fundamentals: an example situation

A circuit can predict terminal voltage while leaving electrode potentials and reaction kinetics unresolved.

Read HOMO–LUMO gap alongside Electrochemical stability window in this context. The potential range within which an electrolyte is neither reduced nor oxidised. Carbonate electrolytes are only stable from about 1 V to 4.3 V vs Li/Li⁺; graphite operates below that, which is why the SEI, not thermodynamics, keeps the cell alive.

Use in Lemonergy

Connect reaction sites and transport paths.

This is a reference concept. No executable Lemonergy block has been verified for this term.

References & further reading

Further reading on this topic

These sources provide broader context; they are not presented as citations for every statement in this entry.

  1. Quantities, Units and Symbols in Physical Chemistry, 3rd edition, 2nd printing

    IUPAC · 2011

    Topic background · Physical-chemistry notation, thermodynamics, electrochemistry and transport quantities.