A Low‐Cost and Air‐Stable Rechargeable Aluminum‐Ion Battery

Abstract

Rechargeable aluminum‐ion batteries (AIBs) are promising for large‐scale energy storage due to the abundant reserves, low cost, and high capacity of the Al anode. However, the development of AIBs is currently hindered by the usage of AlCl3/1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium chloride electrolyte, which is expensive, highly corrosive, and extremely air‐sensitive. Herein, a new hydrated eutectic electrolyte (HEE) composed of hydrated aluminum perchlorate and succinonitrile for low‐cost, noncorrosive, and air‐stable AIBs is reported. Crystal water in the hydrated aluminum perchlorate plays a vital role in forming the HEE, in which one H2O and five succinonitrile molecules coordinate with one Al3+ ion. The optimized ratio of Al(ClO4)3·9H2O to succinonitrile is 1:12. When combining with the self‐doped polyaniline cathode, the associated AIB delivers a high discharge capacity of 185 mAh g−1 over 300 cycles; and the charge/discharge mechanism in the HEE is studied experimentally and theoretically. The HEE is nonflammable, air‐stable, and noncorrosive, thus enabling good air tolerance and facile fabrication of AIBs.

Unveiling solvation structure and desolvation dynamics of hybrid electrolytes for ultralong cyclability and facile kinetics of Zn–Al alloy anodes

“…1d and Table S4, ESI †). [13][14][15]18,19,[26][27][28][29][30][31][32] The high-rate performance of the cell was also confirmed by the steady potential profiles obtained at every 20 h (or 10 cycles) when the current densities varied from 0.2 to 4 mA cm À2 (Fig. S2, ESI †).…”

“…12 In contrast, reversible Al plating/stripping in aqueous electrolytes is restricted owing to a passivation Al 2 O 3 layer on Al electrodes and competitive hydrogen evolution. Although a deep eutectic Al 3+ aqueous electrolyte, an acidic additive in Al 3+ aqueous electrolyte, and an artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) on an Al anode have been investigated to resolve these issues, [13][14][15] the validity of these aqueous Al batteries is under debate owing to the inadequate Al 3+ /Al redox potential in an aqueous system (À1.66 V versus SHE), which is considerably lower than the reductive potential of H 2 O (À0.42 V versus SHE). 16,17 An alternative approach to realizing Al storage is the utilization of alloy anodes.…”

Aqueous proton battery stably operates in mild electrolyte and low-temperature conditions

“…are used as charge carriers for ABs, but their sluggish diffusion kinetics caused by their high de-solvation energy and strong interactions with host materials tend to form more stable ion pairs in solution and limit the electrochemical performance of ABs. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] In contrast, the hydrogen ion (H + ) is a promising charge carrier because of its light atomic weight, small ionic radius and "Grotthuss" transfer mechanism, which endow aqueous proton batteries (APBs) with rapid reaction kinetics. 16,17 In addition, beneting from these unique merits, APBs exhibit excellent lowtemperature electrochemical performance.…”

Effect of Hofmeister ions on the spectro- and electrochemical performance of PANI

“…A lot of work has been done in order to improve the performance of the Al-electrolyte. 2 To date AlCl 3 /1-ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium chloride has been the most commonly used electrolyte. 3 However, such aluminum is only mono-valent counter-parts, instead of Al 3+ , where high theoretical capacity based on three electron transfer reactions could not be achieved.…”

“…Moreover, AlCl 3 /[EMIm]Cl is corrosive. 2 Therefore, it is important to study alternative electrolytes that are air-stable, cost-effective, and not corrosive.…”