Exploration of novel magnesium battery electrolytes based on inorganic salts

We present a method to produce a novel magnesium/aluminum chloride complex (MaCC) electrolyte, involving a new promoter, CuCl2. The chemically formed electrolytic solution is observed to perform Mg deposition/dissolution with high coulombic efficiency. We further propose a new mechanism for MaCC synthesis, which suggests an alternative way to synthesize Mg-conductive electrolytes, by reacting metal chloride salts with nonaqueous suspensions of metallic magnesium. A set of preliminary experiments verifies that efficient Mg deposition/dissolution can be achieved from an electrolytic solution formed by direct reaction of FeCl2 with a nonaqueous suspension of Mg powder.