The risk of thermal runaway is, for Li-ion batteries, a critical issue for large-scale applications. This results in manufacturers and researchers placing great emphasis on minimizing the heat generation and thereby mitigating safety-related risks through the search for suitable materials or additives. To this end, an in-depth stepwise investigation has been undertaken to provide a better understanding of the exothermic processes that take place at the negative electrode/electrolyte interface as well as an increased visibility of the role of the state-of-the-art electrode binders, additives and lithium salt by means of the classical DSC technique. A reliable experimental set up helped quantify the beneficial or harmful contribution of binder polymers to the exothermic behavior of the CMC/SBR containing graphite electrode film in contact with 1 M LiPF6 in EC:DMC:EMC (1:1:1 v/v/v) electrolyte. Further, the role of the VC, FEC and VEC electrolyte additives (2 wt) in reinforcing the protective SEI layer towards thermally induced electrolyte reduction is discussed in the light of infrared spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyzes results. Moreover, after a preliminary corrosion study of LiPF6/LiFSI mixtures, we showed that the 0.66/0.33 M composition can be used in commercial NMC-based LiBs with a positive effect on the thermal runaway. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.