Issue 6, 2024

Unifying electrolyte formulation and electrode nanoconfinement design to enable new ion–solvent cointercalation chemistries

Abstract

Electrochemical ion intercalation is a multi-step process typically involving transport of solvated ions through the liquid electrolyte phase, desolvation of ions at the electrochemical liquid/solid interface, and solid-state diffusion of bare ions within the host electrode. Instead of stripping solvent molecules at the interface during the desolvation step, ions can also intercalate together with a (partially) intact solvation sheath into the host electrode, giving rise to cointercalation chemistries. The thermodynamics and kinetics of ion–solvent cointercalation processes are fundamentally different from the more common case of bare ion intercalation. They offer the possibilities of improved kinetics, modified redox potentials, and enabling intercalation chemistries that are thermodynamically inhibited for bare ions. Thus achieving, identifying, and controlling electrochemical ion–solvent cointercalation are of importance to the field of electrochemical energy storage, particularly, in order to enable post-lithium cell chemistries. Herein, we analyze current efforts of electrolyte formulation and electrode nanoconfinement design to control (achieve or inhibit) cointercalation. Analytical tools to unambiguously identify cointercalation phenomena are discussed. While most current efforts singularly focus on the electrolyte formulation, we propose a unified approach of matching electrolytes with the host's nanoconfinement environment to broaden the range and increase the effectiveness of ion–solvent cointercalation chemistries for use in multivalent ion intercalation, low-temperature batteries, supercapacitors, or dual-ion batteries.

Graphical abstract: Unifying electrolyte formulation and electrode nanoconfinement design to enable new ion–solvent cointercalation chemistries

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
14 dec 2023
Accepted
05 feb 2024
First published
13 feb 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2024,17, 2100-2116

Unifying electrolyte formulation and electrode nanoconfinement design to enable new ion–solvent cointercalation chemistries

H. Guo, M. Elmanzalawy, P. Sivakumar and S. Fleischmann, Energy Environ. Sci., 2024, 17, 2100 DOI: 10.1039/D3EE04350A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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