Luis Aguilera

Effect of Lithium Salt on the Stability of Dispersions of Fumed Silica in the Ionic Liquid BMImBF4

We have investigated the stability and interactions in dispersions of colloidal fumed silica, Aerosil 200, and the ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetraflouroborate (BMImBF(4)) as a function of the Li salt concentration (LiBF(4)). Photon correlation spectroscopy was used to study the aggregation behavior at low silica concentrations, and Raman spectroscopy was used to investigate the interactions in the ionic liquid and with the silica surface. We find that the addition of LiBF(4) increases the stability of the dispersions, with smaller agglomerates of silica particles and higher gelation concentrations in the presence of Li salt. The increased stability with the addition of Li salt is explained by the formation of a more stable solvation layer, where Li ions accumulate on the surface. This leads to an increased interaction between lithium ions and the BF(4)(-) anions in the solvation layer, as seen by Raman spectroscopy. Upon gelation, the Li ions are expelled from the surface because hydrogen bonding between the silica particles are formed. For both neat BMImBF(4) and Li-salt-doped BMImBF(4)/silica dispersions, a weak gel phase was found preceding the formation of a strong gel at slightly higher silica concentrations.

The effect of lithium salt doping on the nanostructure of ionic liquids

In this work we report on the evolution of the structure of two model ionic liquid families, N-alkyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium (Pyr1n-TFSI) and 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium (CnMIm-TFSI) (n = 3, 4, 6 and 8) both containing the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (TFSI) anion, upon the addition of LiTFSI using small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). The introduction of a lithium salt (Li-salt) tunes the interactions through the substitution of the large cation in the ionic liquid with the small and charge localized lithium ion, thus increasing the coulombic contribution from ion-ion interactions. We find that the introduction of lithium ions results in a restructuring of the polar groups in the ionic liquids. These changes are manifested as an increase in the correlation lengths related to charge alternation of the ions and a more disordered structure. This restructuring is interpreted as a reconfiguration of the anions as they coordinate to the small and ionic lithium. In contrast, the length scale of the mesoscopic heterogeneities related to the clustering of alkyl chains is virtually unchanged with lithium doping. Moreover, the correlation corresponding to alkyl chain domains becomes more well defined with increasing salt concentration, suggesting that Li-salt doping, i.e. an increased columbic interaction in the system, promotes clustering of the alkyl tails.

Role of organic solvent addition to ionic liquid electrolytes for lithium–sulphur batteries

We investigate the role of the addition of an organic solvent to an ionic liquid electrolyte for the performance of lithium–sulphur (Li–S) batteries. We find that with a mixed electrolyte, formed by adding 10 wt% 1,3-dioxolane (DIOX) to an ionic liquid, the capacity of a Li–S cell is more than doubled, the rate capability and the cycling performance considerably improved, compared to a cell utilizing a neat ionic liquid electrolyte. The improved performance can be correlated with an enhanced ion transport, evidenced by an increased ionic conductivity and higher limiting current density, directly related to a decrease in viscosity and glass transition temperature of the mixed electrolytes. We show that this in turn is linked to a change in the local environment of the Li-ions where the organic solvent is incorporated in the coordination shell. In addition we show that the mixed electrolytes have a considerably higher thermal stability, in particular a dramatically increased flash point, and improved low temperature properties with respect to a conventional organic solvent based electrolyte currently used for Li–S batteries.