Electrolytes and Interphases in Li-Ion Batteries and Beyond

Li-ion battery (LIB) monopolizes the mobile electronic market as the power source of choice, but proper attention will be given to electrolytes developed for the so-called beyond lithium ion chemistries. Electrolytes in batteries must cater to the needs of both electrodes; hence, in principle, new battery chemistries would have incurred new electrolyte compositions. The use of mixed instead of single solvents raises complications in the effort to optimize ion conductivities. For example, in a ternary solvent mixture, thousands of electrolyte compositions might need to be experimentally prepared and measured to generate a complete conductivity contour map, which is a function of temperature, solvent composition, salt species, and concentration in a 5-D space.