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Imidazolium Based Ionic Liquids as Electrolytes for Energy Efficient Electrical Double Layer Capacitor: Insights from Molecular Dynamics and Electrochemical Characterization

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Abstract

Ionic liquids (ILs) have attracted considerable interest as electrolytes for electrical double layer capacitors (EDLC) bringing in enhancement of energy efficiency. This work studied three imidazolium based ILs mixed with a co-solvent as the electrolytes for EDLC. A combined study involving molecular dynamics (MD) and electrochemical experiments was carried out to interpret the potential of the electrolyte solution. Initially, MD simulation was employed to compute ionic conductivity and viscosity of pure ILs, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([EMIM][Tf2N]), 1-propyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([PMIM][Tf2N]) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([BMIM][Tf2N]) and the study was further extended to 1 mol·dm−3 solutions of these three ILs in acetonitrile (ACN). The MD results were sequentially validated by experiments. Based on the ionic conductivity and viscosity values obtained from MD and experiments, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mol·dm−3 solutions of the ILs in ACN were further investigated as electrolytes for carbon based EDLC. Cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and galvanostatic charge discharge techniques were employed. From cyclic voltammetry, the observed highest value of the operating potential window was 3 V. The nearly rectangular and symmetric shape of cyclic voltammograms and vertical line of Nyquist plot at lower frequencies indicated good capacitive behavior of the system. The highest specific capacitance of 122 F·g−1 was achieved for the 1 mol·dm−3 solution of [PMIM][Tf2N] at 0.5 A·g−1. The highest energy density values were found to be 152 and 149 W·h·kg−1 for 1 mol·dm−3 solutions of [PMIM][Tf2N] and [BMIM][Tf2N], respectively. Overall, 1 mol·dm−3 solutions of the less explored [PMIM][Tf2N] and [BMIM][Tf2N] provided better electrochemical stability, energy and power density.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (ISRO), Thiruvananthapuram vide ISRO/RES/3/745/17-18. Authors acknowledge Prof. Mihir K. Purkait for providing the Microprocessor based water-soil analysis kit (VSI 302, VSI Electronic Private Ltd). Computational time from the Param Ishan supercomputer is duly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati, India

    Upasana Mahanta, R. Prasanna Venkatesh & Tamal Banerjee

  2. Advanced Power Systems, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (ISRO), Thiruvananthapuram, India

    S. Sujatha

  3. Chemical Systems Division, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (ISRO), Thiruvananthapuram, India

    S. A. Ilangovan

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  1. Upasana Mahanta
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Mahanta, U., Venkatesh, R.P., Sujatha, S. et al. Imidazolium Based Ionic Liquids as Electrolytes for Energy Efficient Electrical Double Layer Capacitor: Insights from Molecular Dynamics and Electrochemical Characterization. J Solution Chem 48, 1119–1134 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10953-019-00898-8

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