Electrolytes for lithium and lithium ion batteries: From synthesis of novel lithium borates and ionic liquids to development of novel measurement methods

This review covers various aspects of electrolyte investigations. The first section reports on synthesis and characterization of lithium salts and ionic liquids, including some unpublished recent work. The next part is devoted to transference number measurements of lithium ions. It contains recently published work and new results on this rarely investigated but important topic. Studies of anodic aluminum dissolution with our novel fast impedance scanning electrochemical quartz microbalance (FIS-EQCM) follow next. After a short introduction to the method, some recently published results are reviewed along with some yet unpublished material. We have also shown that the solubility of solids and gases in liquids can be measured with this equipment, including the solubility of lithium salts in ionic liquids. First results of FIS-EQCM studies show that electroplating and corrosion of lithium and subsequent dissolution of the SEI can be studied as well. The last parts of this manuscript are dedicated to the investigation of miscellaneous topics that are of interest for studies of electrolytes for LIBs. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.