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Vol. 15 (2023)

Air-Stable Binary Hydrated Eutectic Electrolytes with Unique Solvation Structure for Rechargeable Aluminum-Ion Batteries

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01160-z
Pengyu Meng
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Jian Huang
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructures, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, People’s Republic of China
Zhaohui Yang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Min Jiang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Yibo Wang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Wei Zhang
Advanced Technology Institute, University of Surrey, Guildford GU2 7XH, Surrey, UK
Jiao Zhang
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Baode Sun
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China
Chaopeng Fu
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Chaopeng Fu

chaopengfu@sjtu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 15 (2023), Article Number: 188

Abstract

Aluminum-ion batteries (AIBs) have been highlighted as a potential alternative to lithium-ion batteries for large-scale energy storage due to the abundant reserve, light weight, low cost, and good safety of Al. However, the development of AIBs faces challenges due to the usage of AlCl3-based ionic liquid electrolytes, which are expensive, corrosive, and sensitive to humidity. Here, we develop a low-cost, non-corrosive, and air-stable hydrated eutectic electrolyte composed of aluminum perchlorate nonahydrate and methylurea (MU) ligand. Through optimizing the molar ratio to achieve the unique solvation structure, the formed Al(ClO4)3·9H2O/MU hydrated deep eutectic electrolyte (AMHEE) with an average coordination number of 2.4 can facilely realize stable and reversible deposition/stripping of Al. When combining with vanadium oxide nanorods positive electrode, the Al-ion full battery delivers a high discharge capacity of 320 mAh g−1 with good capacity retention. The unique solvation structure with a low desolvation energy of the AMHEE enables Al3+ insertion/extraction during charge/discharge processes, which is evidenced by in situ synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction. This work opens a new pathway of developing low-cost, safe, environmentally friendly and high-performance electrolytes for practical and sustainable AIBs.


Highlights:
1 A non-corrosive and air-stable hydrated eutectic electrolyte is developed.
2 The electrolyte is composed of aluminum perchlorate nonahydrate and methylurea.
3 The unique solvation structure enables reversible deposition/stripping of Al.
4 The Al-ion battery in this electrolyte shows good charge/discharge performance.

Keywords

Al-ion battery Hydrated eutectic electrolyte Mechanism Solvation structure
Meng, Pengyu, Jian Huang, Zhaohui Yang, Min Jiang, Yibo Wang, Wei Zhang, Jiao Zhang, Baode Sun, and Chaopeng Fu. 2023. “Air-Stable Binary Hydrated Eutectic Electrolytes With Unique Solvation Structure for Rechargeable Aluminum-Ion Batteries”. Nano-Micro Letters 15 (July):188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-023-01160-z.
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