Dynamics of [Pyr13][Tf2N] ionic liquid confined to carbon black

Electrolyte contact changes nano-Li4Ti5O12 bulk properties via surface polarons

It is of general interest to combine the faradaic processes based high energy density of a battery with the non-faradaic processes based high power density of a capacitor in one cell. Surface area and functional groups of electrode materials strongly affect these properties. For the anode material Li₄Ti₅O₁₂ (LTO), we suggest a polaron based mechanism that influences Li ion uptake and mobility. Here we show electrolytes containing a lithium salt induce an observable change in the bulk NMR relaxation properties of LTO nano particles. The longitudinal ⁷Li NMR relaxation time of bulk LTO can change by almost an order of magnitude and, therefore, reacts very sensitively to the cation and its concentration in the surrounding electrolyte. The reversible effect is largely independent of the used anions and of potential anion decomposition products. It is concluded that lithium salt containing electrolytes increase the mobility of surface polarons. These polarons and additional lithium cations from the electrolyte can now diffuse through the bulk, induce the observed enhanced relaxation rate and enable the non-faradaic process. This picture of a Li⁺ ion equilibrium between electrolyte and solid may help with improving the charging properties of electrode materials.

Laplace inverted pulsed EPR relaxation to study contact between active material and carbon black in Li-organic battery cathodes

The addition of conductive additives during electrode fabrication is standard practice to mitigate a low intrinsic electronic conductivity of most cathode materials used in Li-ion batteries. To ensure an optimal conduction pathway, these conductive additives, which generally consist of carbon particles, need to be in good contact with the active compounds. Herein, we demonstrate how a combination of pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) relaxometry and inverse Laplace transform (ILT) can be used to study such contact. The investigated system consists of PTMA (poly(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinyloxy-4-ylmethacrylate)) monomer radicals, which is a commonly used redox unit in organic radical batteries (ORB), mixed at different ratios with Super P carbon black (CB) as the conductive additive. Inversion recovery data were acquired to determine longitudinal (T₁) relaxation time constant distributions. It was observed that not only the position and relative amplitude, but also the number of relaxation modes varies as the composition of PTMA monomer and CB is changed, thereby justifying the use of ILT instead of fitting with a predetermined number of components. A hypothesis for the origin of different relaxation modes was devised. It suggests that the electrode composition may locally affect the quality of electronic contact between the active material and carbon black.

Recent advances in NMR spectroscopy of ionic liquids

This review presents recent developments in the application of NMR spectroscopic techniques in the study of ionic liquids. NMR has been the primary tool not only for the structural characterization of ionic liquids, but also for the study of dynamics. The presence of a host of NMR active nuclei in ionic liquids permits widespread use of multinuclear NMR experiments. Chemical shifts and multinuclear coupling constants are used routinely for the structure elucidation of ionic liquids and of products formed by their covalent interactions with other materials. Also, the availability of a multitude of NMR techniques has facilitated the study of dynamical processes in them. These include the use of NOESY to study inter-ionic interactions, pulsed-field gradient techniques for probing transport properties, and relaxation measurements to elucidate rotational dynamics. This review will focus on the application of each of these techniques to investigate ionic liquids.

MAS-NMR of [Pyr13][Tf2N] and [Pyr16][Tf2N] Ionic Liquids Confined to Carbon Black: Insights and Pitfalls

Electrolytes based on ionic liquids (IL) are promising candidates to replace traditional liquid electrolytes in electrochemical systems, particularly in combination with carbon-based porous electrodes. Insight into the dynamics of such systems is imperative for tailoring electrochemical performance. In this work, 1-Methyl-1-propylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide and 1-Hexyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide were studied in a carbon black (CB) host using spectrally resolved Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) and 13-interval Pulsed Field Gradient Stimulated Echo (PFGSTE) Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MAS-NMR). Data were processed using a sensitivity weighted Laplace inversion algorithm without non-negativity constraint. Previously found relations between the alkyl length and the aggregation behavior of pyrrolidinium-based cations were confirmed and characterized in more detail. For the IL in CB, a different aggregation behavior was found compared to the neat IL, adding the surface of a porous electrode as an additional parameter for the optimization of IL-based electrolytes. Finally, the suitability of MAS was assessed and critically discussed for investigations of this class of samples.

Independent component analysis combined with Laplace inversion of spectrally resolved spin-alignment echo/T 1 3D 7Li NMR of superionic Li10GeP2S12

The use of independent component analysis (ICA) for the analysis of two-dimensional (2D) spin-alignment echo–T 1 7Li NMR correlation data with transient echo detection as a third dimension is demonstrated for the superionic conductor Li10GeP2S12 (LGPS). ICA was combined with Laplace inversion, or discrete inverse Laplace transform (ILT), to obtain spectrally resolved 2D correlation maps. Robust results were obtained with the spectra as well as the vectorized correlation maps as independent components. It was also shown that the order of ICA and ILT steps can be swapped. While performing the ILT step before ICA provided better contrast, a substantial data compression can be achieved if ICA is executed first. Thereby the overall computation time could be reduced by one to two orders of magnitude, since the number of computationally expensive ILT steps is limited to the number of retained independent components. For LGPS, it was demonstrated that physically meaningful independent components and mixing matrices are obtained, which could be correlated with previously investigated material properties yet provided a clearer, better separation of features in the data. LGPS from two different batches was investigated, which showed substantial differences in their spectral and relaxation behavior. While in both cases this could be attributed to ionic mobility, the presented analysis may also clear the way for a more in-depth theoretical analysis based on numerical simulations. The presented method appears to be particularly suitable for samples with at least partially resolved static quadrupolar spectra, such as alkali metal ions in superionic conductors. The good stability of the ICA analysis makes this a prospect algorithm for preprocessing of data for a subsequent automatized analysis using machine learning concepts.

Dynamics of Emim+ in [Emim][TFSI]/LiTFSI Solutions as Bulk and under Confinement in a Quasi-liquid Solid Electrolyte

Quasi-liquid solid electrolytes are a promising alternative for next-generation Li batteries. These systems combine the safety of solid electrolytes with the desired properties of liquids and are typically formed by solutions of Li salts in ionic liquids incorporated into solid matrices. Here, we present a fundamental understanding of the transport properties in solutions of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ([Emim][TFSI]), either in bulk form or incorporated in a boron nitride (BN) matrix. We performed a series of quasi-elastic neutron scattering experiments that, given the high incoherent neutron scattering cross section of hydrogen, allowed us to focus on the Emim⁺ dynamics. First, [Emim][TFSI]/LiTFSI solutions (0.5 and 2.5 mol·kg^-1) were investigated and we show how the increase in the concentration reduces the Emim⁺ mobility and increases the activation energy of their long-range motions. Then, the 0.5 mol·kg^-1 solution was incorporated into the BN matrix and we report that the diffusivities of the Emim⁺ cations that remain mobile under confinement are highly accelerated in comparison with the bulk sample and the activation energy of these motions is drastically reduced. We present the experimental evidence that this effect is related to the content of the Emim⁺ cations immobilized near the surfaces of the BN pores.