Structure and Dynamics in Ionic Liquid and Highly Concentrated Electrolytes
Licentiate thesis, 2020

The electrolyte is a crucial part of a battery in terms of longevity and safety. However, the state-of-the-art electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries are based on organic solvents and Li-salts (typically 1M concentration) and are known to be volatile and to degrade at higher temperature. In the search for a safer electrolyte, highly concentrated electrolytes (HCEs) and ionic liquids (ILs) have been proposed as alternatives. The high salt concentration in HCEs (typically >4M) results in an increased electrochemical stability whereas ionic liquids, consisting only of ions, are known to have a negligible vapour pressure and high thermal stability. A common feature for HCEs and ILs is an ordering on mesoscopic length scales, normally not found in simple liquids, resulting from correlations between the ions. This nanostructure can be expected to influence the ion transport and a key to develop these new electrolyte concepts is to understand the structure and dynamics on the molecular level and how this links to macroscopic transport properties.

The thesis focuses on the understanding of mesoscopic structure and dynamics in ILs and HCEs with the help of neutron and X-ray scattering with the aim to identify how local dynamical processes are influenced by the nanostrucutre. I have investigated an archetypal HCE system where the Li-salt LiTFSI is dissolved in acetonitrile and a model ionic liquid. Varying the Li-salt concentration in the HCE we can link the local processes to the development of the structure. The ion transport in the HCE takes place by the means of a jump diffusion and is highly dependent on the salt concentration and temperature of the system. For the ionic liquid we investigate the response of structure and dynamics to changes in both pressure and temperature with a particular focus on state points (P,T) where the macroscopic dynamics i.e. conductivity is constant. A conned diusion was found with a diusion coecient in agreement with macroscopic conductivity, thus providing a link between the microscopic and macroscopic dynamics.

Ionic Liquid

Electrolytes

SAXS

Highly concentrated electrolytes

QENS

Zoom, Password: 534071
Opponent: Associate Professor Heloisa Bordallo, Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark

Author

Filippa Lundin

Chalmers, Physics, Materials Physics

Density scaling of structure and dynamics of an ionic liquid

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics,; Vol. 22(2020)p. 14169-14176

Journal article

F. Lundin, H.W. Hansen, B. Frick, D. Rauber, R. Hempelmann, O. Shebanova, K. Niss and A. Matic Local dynamics and nanostructure of an ionic liquid under pressure as a function of temperature

F. Lundin, L. Aguilera, H.W. Hansen, B. Frick, S. Lages, A. Labrador, K. Niss and A. Matic Structure and dynamics in highly concentrated electrolytes

SwedNESS

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) (GSn15-0008), 2017-01-01 -- 2020-12-31.

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) (GSn15-0008), 2016-07-01 -- 2021-06-30.

Subject Categories

Condensed Matter Physics

Publisher

Chalmers

Zoom, Password: 534071

Online

Opponent: Associate Professor Heloisa Bordallo, Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark

More information

Latest update

9/10/2020