The investigation of novel electrolytes for lithium metal anodes has been conducted. Incorporation of LiNO3 into lithium difluoro( oxalato) borate (LiDFOB) in ethylene carbonate (EC) and dimethyl carbonate (DMC) electrolytes results in a significant improvement in capacity retention and Coulombic efficiency. While the solubility of LiNO3 is very low in common carbonate solvents (similar to 0.03 M), the use of triethyl phosphate (TEP) significantly increases the solubility of LiNO3 and improves the capacity retention and Coluombic efficiency of lithium metal anodes. Ex-situ surface analysis of the cycled electrodes suggests that incorporation of LiNO3 results in nitrogen containing species (NO3-, NO2-, and N-3(-)) in the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) which is likely responsible for the performance enhancement. (C) The Author(s) 2019. Published by ECS.