Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“Double-Salt” Electrolytes for High Voltage Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors

  • Published:
Journal of Solution Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The electrolyte is the key component in high-voltage electrochemical double-layer capacitors (EDLCs). Ionic liquids (ILs) represent one of the most promising classes of electrolytes for the development of these devices. However, as a consequence of their high viscosity, ionic-liquid based EDLCs usually display a relatively low power performance compared to those based on conventional electrolytes (propylene carbonate or acetonitrile based ones), especially at and below room temperature. We showed in previous work that the use of mixtures of ILs and organic solvents as electrolyte for high voltage EDLCs appears to be a promising strategy to overcome the power limitations of IL-based EDLCs, as the increased operative voltage of the latter can be retained in their mixtures with such solvents. However, the use of bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide-based ILs in these mixtures introduced a new obstacle, namely the limited oxidative stability of the Al current collector of the positive electrode in the presence of conventional solvents. Hence, in this work, we suggest using double-salt electrolytes containing a second salt with a \( {\text{BF}}_{4}^{ - } \) or \( {\text{PF}}_{6}^{ - } \) anion. These anions are known to effectively passivate Al and thus to prevent its anodic dissolution. These double-salt electrolytes allow the development of EDLCs with good power performance and higher operative voltage than that of conventional EDLCs, while overcoming the stability issue of the Al current collector.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Miller, J.R., Burke, A.F.: Electrochemical capacitors: challenges and opportunities for real-world applications. Electrochem. Soc. Interface 17, 53–57 (2008)

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sharma, P., Bhatti, T.S.: A review on electrochemical double-layer capacitors. Energy Convers. Manage. 51, 2901–2912 (2010)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Béguin, F., Presser, V., Balducci, A., Frackowiak, E.: Carbons and electrolytes for advanced supercapacitors. Adv. Mater. 26, 2219–2251 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Balducci, A., Bardi, U., Caporali, S., Mastragostino, M., Soavi, F.: Ionic liquids for hybrid supercapacitors. Electrochem. Commun. 6, 566–570 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Balducci, A., Dugas, R., Taberna, P.L., Simon, P., Plee, D., Mastragostino, M., Passerini, S.: High temperature carbon-carbon supercapacitor using ionic liquid as electrolyte. J. Power Sources 165, 922–927 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lewandowski, A., Olejniczak, A.: N-methyl-N-propylpiperidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulphonyl) imide as an electrolyte for carbon-based double-layer capacitors. J. Power Sources 172, 487–492 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Krause, A., Balducci, A.: High voltage electrochemical double layer capacitor containing mixtures of ionic liquids and organic carbonate as electrolytes. Electrochem. Commun. 13, 814–817 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ruiz, V., Huynh, T., Sivakkumar, S.R., Pandolfo, A.G.: Ionic liquid–solvent mixtures as supercapacitor electrolytes for extreme temperature operation. RSC Adv. 2, 5591–5598 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Brandt, A., Isken, P., Lex-Balducci, A., Balducci, A.: Adiponitrile-based electrochemical double layer capacitor. J. Power Sources 204, 213–219 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Pohlmann, S., Balducci, A.: A new conducting salt for high voltage propylene carbonate-based electrochemical double layer capacitors. Electrochim. Acta 110, 221–227 (2013)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Lewandowski, A., Olejniczak, A., Galinski, M., Stepniak, I.: Performance of carbon-carbon supercapacitors based on organic, aqueous and ionic liquid electrolytes. J. Power Sources 195, 5814–5819 (2010)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Kühnel, R.-S., Balducci, A.: Comparison of the anodic behavior of aluminum current collectors in imide-based ionic liquids and consequences on the stability of high voltage supercapacitors. J. Power Sources 249, 163–171 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Kühnel, R.-S., Reiter, J., Jeong, S., Passerini, S., Balducci, A.: Anodic stability of aluminum current collectors in an ionic liquid based on the (fluorosulfonyl)(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide anion and its implication on high voltage supercapacitors. Electrochem. Commun. 38, 117–119 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Krause, L.J., Lamanna, W., Summerfield, J., Engle, M., Korba, G., Loch, R., Atanasoski, R.: Corrosion of aluminum at high voltages in non-aqueous electrolytes containing perfluoroalkylsulfonyl imides; new lithium salts for lithium-ion cells. J. Power Sources 68, 320–325 (1997)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Yang, H., Kwon, K., Devine, T.M., Evans, J.W.: Aluminum corrosion in lithium batteries—An investigation using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance. J. Electrochem. Soc. 147, 4399–4407 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Morita, M., Shibata, T., Yoshimoto, N., Ishikawa, M.: Anodic behavior of aluminum in organic solutions with different electrolytic salts for lithium ion batteries. Electrochim. Acta 47, 2787–2793 (2002)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Garcia, B., Armand, M.: Aluminium corrosion in room temperature molten salt. J. Power Sources 132, 206–208 (2004)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Peng, C., Yang, L., Zhang, Z., Tachibana, K., Yang, Y.: Anodic behavior of Al current collector in 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl] amide ionic liquid electrolytes. J. Power Sources 173, 510–517 (2007)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Peng, C., Yang, L., Zhang, Z., Tachibana, K., Yang, Y., Zhao, S.: Investigation of the anodic behavior of Al current collector in room temperature ionic liquid electrolytes. Electrochim. Acta 53, 4764–4772 (2008)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Mun, J., Yim, T., Choi, C.Y., Ryu, J.H., Kim, Y.G., Oh, S.M.: Linear-sweep thermammetry study on corrosion behavior of Al current collector in ionic liquid solvent. Electrochem. Solid-State Lett. 13, A109–A111 (2010)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Kühnel, R.-S., Lübke, M., Winter, M., Passerini, S., Balducci, A.: Suppression of aluminum current collector corrosion in ionic liquid containing electrolytes. J. Power Sources 214, 178–184 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Weingarth, D., Foelske-Schmitz, A., Kötz, R.: Cycle versus voltage hold – Which is the better stability test for electrochemical double layer capacitors? J. Power Sources 225, 84–88 (2013)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Galiński, M., Lewandowski, A., Stępniak, I.: Ionic liquids as electrolytes. Electrochim. Acta 51, 5567–5580 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Kanamura, K., Okagawa, T., Takehara, Z.-I.: Electrochemical oxidation of propylene carbonate (containing various salts) on aluminium electrodes. J. Power Sources 57, 119–123 (1995)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Myung, S.-T., Hitoshi, Y., Sun, Y.-K.: Electrochemical behavior and passivation of current collectors in lithium-ion batteries. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 9891–9911 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Wang, X., Yasukawa, E., Mori, S.: Inhibition of anodic corrosion of aluminum cathode current collector on recharging in lithium imide electrolytes. Electrochim. Acta 45, 2677–2684 (2000)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Kühnel, R.-S., Balducci, A.: Lithium ion transport and solvation in N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide–propylene carbonate mixtures. J. Phys. Chem. C 118, 5742–5748 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Schroeder, M., Winter, M., Passerini, S., Balducci, A.: On the use of soft carbon and propylene carbonate-based electrolytes in lithium-ion capacitors. J. Electrochem. Soc. 159, A1240–A1245 (2012)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF) within the project IES (contract number 03EK3010) for the financial support.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MEET Battery Research Center & Institute of Physical Chemistry, University of Muenster, Corrensstr. 28/30, 48149, Münster, Germany

    X. Zhang, R.-S. Kühnel & A. Balducci

  2. Helmholtz Institute Ulm, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Albert-Einstein-Allee 11, 89081, Ulm, Germany

    S. Passerini

Authors
  1. X. Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. R.-S. Kühnel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. S. Passerini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. A. Balducci
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Balducci.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zhang, X., Kühnel, RS., Passerini, S. et al. “Double-Salt” Electrolytes for High Voltage Electrochemical Double-Layer Capacitors. J Solution Chem 44, 528–537 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10953-015-0298-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10953-015-0298-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation