Issue 3, 2012

Electrolyte roadblocks to a magnesium rechargeable battery

Abstract

Low cost, non-dendritic magnesium metal is an ideal anode for a post lithium ion battery. Currently, development of magnesium electrolytes governs the rate of progress in this field, because electrolyte properties determine the class of cathodes utilized. A review of the latest progress in the area of magnesium battery electrolyte and a perspective on mitigating present challenges is presented herein. Firstly, density functional theory has been shown to predict the potential window of magnesium electrolytes on inert electrodes. Secondly, we report initial efforts aimed to overcome the corrosive property of these magnesium organohaloaluminates towards less noble metals such as stainless steel. This is a major challenge in developing high voltage magnesium electrolytes essential for batteries which operate above 3V. We lastly touch on cathode candidates including the insertion and conversion classes. One conversion cathode we pay particular attention to is electrophilic sulfur which can be married with magnesium metal anodes by utilizing non-nucleophilic electrolytes obtained by simple crystallization of in situ generated magnesium organohaloaluminates. Effectively, non-nucleophilic electrolytes open the door to research on magnesium/sulfur batteries.

Graphical abstract: Electrolyte roadblocks to a magnesium rechargeable battery

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Perspective
Submitted
31 Oct 2011
Accepted
21 Dec 2011
First published
11 Jan 2012

Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 5941-5950

Electrolyte roadblocks to a magnesium rechargeable battery

J. Muldoon, C. B. Bucur, A. G. Oliver, T. Sugimoto, M. Matsui, H. S. Kim, G. D. Allred, J. Zajicek and Y. Kotani, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5941 DOI: 10.1039/C2EE03029B

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