Water-in-salt electrolytes for supercapacitors applications: valence, size and symmetry of the anions

• Grant number: 19/07656-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2019
• End date: April 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Chemistry - Physical-Chemistry
• Principal Investigator: Eudes Eterno Fileti
• Grantee: Paulo Roberto dos Santos Gonçalves
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Company: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Química de São Carlos (IQSC)
• Associated research grant: 17/11631-2 - CINE: computational materials design based on atomistic simulations, meso-scale, multi-physics, and artificial intelligence for energy applications, AP.PCPE

Abstract

The storage of energy in electrochemical devices crucially depends on the characteristics of the electrolytes used in their manufacture. Recently a new class of electrolytes has been considered for use in batteries and supercapacitors. Such electrolytes involve a salt superconcentration in water, which reverses the conventional proposal in the sense that it is no longer the salts that are dissolved by water, but rather that water is mixed with the salts. In this project we will employ the molecular dynamics technique to describe, atomistically, the properties of these electrolytes, known as "water-in-salt electrolytes", or simply water-in-salt electrolytes (WiSEs). Structural, dynamic and electrical properties of these electrolytes in bulk and also in electrochemical cells will be investigated.