Aqueous-Eutectic-in-Salt Electrolytes for High-Energy-Density Supercapacitors with an Operational Temperature Window of 100 °C, from −35 to +65 °C

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces 2020-07, Vol.12 (26), p.29181-29193, Article acsami.0c04011
• Main Authors: Lu, Xuejun, Jiménez-Riobóo, Rafael J, Leech, Donal, Gutiérrez, María C, Ferrer, M. Luisa, del Monte, Francisco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Energy, Environmental, and Catalysis Applications
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c04011

Water-in-salt (WIS) electrolytes are gaining increased interest as an alternative to conventional aqueous or organic ones. WIS electrolytes offer an interesting combination of safety, thanks to their aqueous character, and extended electrochemical stability window, thanks to the strong coordination between water molecules and ion salt. Nonetheless, cost, the tendency of salt precipitation, and sluggish ionic transfer leading to poor rate performance of devices are some intrinsic drawbacks of WIS electrolytes that yet need to be addressed for their technological implementation. It is worth noting that the absence of “free’’ water molecules could also be achieved via the addition of a certain cosolvent capable of coordinating with water. This is the case of the eutectic mixture formed between DMSO and H2O with a molar ratio of 1:2 and a melting point as low as −140 °C. Interestingly, addition of salts at near-saturation conditions also resulted in an increase of the boiling point of the resulting solution. Herein, we used a eutectic mixture of DMSO and H2O for dissolution of LiTFSI in the 1.1−8.8 molality range. The resulting electrolyte (e.g., the so-called aqueous-eutectic-in-salt) exhibited excellent energy and power densities when operating in a supercapacitor cell over a wide range of extreme ambient temperatures, from as low as −35 °C to as high as +65 °C.