Four boron-based anion receptors were investigated as electrolyte additives for lithium-ion batteries. The electrochemical performance of lithium-ion cells was found to strongly depend on the structure of the anion receptor added to the electrolyte. The capacity retention of the lithium-ion cell was slightly improved by adding 0.07 M bis(1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoroisopropyl)pentafluorophenylboronate additive, whereas the addition of 2,5-bis(trifluoromethylphenyl)tetrafluoro-1,3,2-benzodioxaborole dramatically deteriorated the electrochemical performance. The addition of a certain type of anion receptor can promote the electrochemical decomposition of the electrolyte, resulting in high interfacial impedance and accelerated capacity fading of lithium-ion cells. Ab initio calculations showed that the electrochemical performance of anion receptors had good correlation to the degree of localization of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital at the boron center of anion receptors, which can potentially be used in the search for new anion receptors for lithium-ion batteries.

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Hemicyanine dye structure is modified with a C16‐alkyl chain to amino‐head and a C1, C8 or C16 alkyl to pyridinium‐tail. Spectral properties of the dyes in supramolecular inclusion complexation with amylose are studied in order to assess the mono‐functional polarity sensing activity of the pyridinium cations in DMSO‐H2O mixtures. Inclusion complexation brings the γmax of C16DASPC1 dye to a blue‐shift (relative to that of the free dye state) while that of C16DASP(C8 and C16) dyes remains almost unchanged.