Origin of the Electrochemical Stability of Aqueous Concentrated Electrolyte Solutions

Aqueous solutions have attracted considerable attention for use in aqueous-based energy-conversion devices such as aqueous lithium-ion batteries. While aqueous solutions have some desirable properties as electrolyte solutions, one drawback is the narrow potential window of water due to the electrolysis reactions of water (oxygen/hydrogen evolution reaction, OER/HER). Recently, it has been reported that the potential windows were expanded in concentrated electrolyte solutions. In this study, we investigated the potential windows in aqueous concentrated electrolyte solutions with various salts at different concentrations. A neutral pH solution with the lowest water concentration showed the largest potential window, and the potential windows were not affected by the electrolyte salts. In addition, we observed an asymmetric expansion of potential windows: the upper potential limits were shifted more than the lower limits. This can be explained by the local pH change in the vicinity of electrodes caused by OER/HER and the decrease in the rate of OER due to the reduced water concentrations. (c) The Author(s) 2018. Published by ECS.