Ionic Liquids for Lithium Ion and Related Batteries

Abstract

This chapter reviews the use of ionic liquids, also known as molten salts, in lithium ion and related battery systems. This topic was not included in previous treatises of lithium-ion technology and its inclusion reflects the significant advances made in this area in recent years. Ionic liquids have experienced a resurgence of interest as electrolytes for ambient temperature batteries and capacitors. In large part, this is because new materials have been found that are less corrosive than AlCl3- based electrolytes, which was the focus of work for many years. Many of these new salts are also hydro- lytically stable. Moreover, these new electrolytes contain the lithium or sodium ions necessary to run lithium or sodium cells. This makes them much more suitable for practical consumer batteries. Much of the work has been done in half-cells or with solid metal anodes, but the findings can often be applied to lithium-ion analogs. Consequently, both metal and carbon-based anodes are included in this review. In general, we have limited the scope to articles published since 1990. Readers are referred to the chapters in Mamantov and Popov´s book for work prior to 1990 [1]. Developments in ionic liquids for capacitors are reviewed elsewhere in this book.