Brine Refrigerants for Low-cost, Safe Aqueous Supercapacitors with Ultra-long Stable Operation at Low Temperatures

Traditional aqueous energy storage devices are difficult to operate at low temperatures owing to the poor ionic conductivity and sluggish interfacial dynamics in frozen electrolytes. Herein, the low-cost brine refrigerants for food freezing and preservation as electrolytes, and unexpectedly realize high ionic conductivity and stable operation of an aqueous storage device at low temperatures are demonstrated. A CaCl2 brine refrigerant electrolyte (BRE) with a low freezing point -55 degrees C and high ionic conductivity (10.1 mS cm(-1) at -50 degrees C) is developed for supercapacitors (SCs), which retains 80% of the room temperature capacity at -50 degrees C and exhibits ultra-long cycle life with excellent capacity retention of 92% over 98,500 cycles, outperforming the other SCs which can be operated below -40 degrees C in literature. Moreover, the SCs with MgCl2 and NaCl BREs can also be operated successfully with excellent cycle stability and high-capacity retention at low temperatures of -30 and -20 degrees C, respectively. Fundamental correlation between various cations and their effect on the freezing point reduction of aqueous electrolytes is revealed via Raman investigation and molecular dynamics simulations. This work provides a rational design strategy for green, inexpensive, and safe low-temperature aqueous electrolytes for energy storage devices.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a low-cost brine refrigerant electrolyte that enables high ionic conductivity and stable operation of an aqueous energy storage device at low temperatures. The investigation reveals the effect of different cations on reducing the freezing point of aqueous electrolytes and provides a rational design strategy for green, inexpensive, and safe low-temperature aqueous electrolytes for energy storage devices.