New Ether-functionalized Morpholinium- and Piperidinium-based Ionic Liquids as Electrolyte Components in Lithium and Lithium-Ion Batteries

Here, two ionic liquids, N-ethoxyethyl-N-methylmorpholinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide (M1,2O2TFSI) and N-ethoxyethyl- N-methylpiperidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (P1,2O2TFSI) were synthesized and compared. Fundamental relevant properties, such as thermal and electrochemical stability, density, and ionic conductivity were analyzed to evaluate the effects caused by the presence of the ether bond in the side chain and/or in the organic cation ring. Upon lithium salt addition, two electrolytes suitable for lithium batteries applications were found. Higher conducting properties of the piperidinium-based electrolyte resulted in enhanced cycling performances when tested with LiFePO4 (LFP) cathode in lithium cells. When mixing the P1,2O2TFSI/LiTFSI electrolyte with a tailored alkyl carbonate mixture, the cycling performance of both Li and Li-ion cells greatly improved, with prolonged cyclability delivering very stable capacity values, as high as the theoretical one in the case of Li/LFP cell configurations.