Ambient temperature liquid salt electrolytes

Chem Commun (Camb). 2023 Feb 28;59(18):2620-2623. doi: 10.1039/d3cc00318c.

Abstract

Alkali metal salts usually have high melting points due to strong electrostatic interactions and solvents are needed to create ambient temperature liquid electrolytes. Here, we report on six phosphate-anion-based alkali metal salts, Li/Na/K, all of which are liquids at room temperature, with glass transition temperatures ranging from -61 to -29 °C, and are thermally stable up to at least 225 °C. While the focus herein is on various physico-chemical properties, these salts also exhibit high anodic stabilities, up to 6 V vs. M/M+ (M = Li/Na/K), and deliver some battery performance - at elevated temperatures as there are severe viscosity limitations at room-temperature. While the battery performance arguably is sub-par, solvent-free electrolytes based on alkali metal salts such as these should pave the way for conceptually different Li/Na/K-batteries, either by refined anion design or by using several salts to create eutectic mixtures.