Design of an electrolyte composition for stable and rapid charging–discharging of a graphite negative electrode in a bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide-based ionic liquid

We evaluate the effects of lithium salt on the charge-discharge performance of a graphite negative electrode in 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide (EMImFSI) ionic liquid-based electrolytes. Although the graphite negative electrode exhibits good cyclability and rate capability in both 0.43 mol dm super(-3) LiFSI/EMImFSI and LiTFSI/EMImFSI (TFSI super(-) = bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide) at room temperature, only the LiFSI/EMImFSI system enables the graphite electrode to be operated with sufficient discharge capacity at the low temperature of 0 [degrees]C, even though there is no noticeable difference in ionic conductivity, compared with LiTFSI/EMImFSI. Furthermore, a clear difference in the low-temperature behaviors of the two cells composed of EMImFSI with a high-concentration of lithium salts is observed. Additionally, charge-discharge operation of the graphite electrode at C-rate of over 5.0 can be achieved using of the high-concentration LiFSI/EMImFSI electrolyte. Considering the low-temperature characteristics in both high-concentration electrolytes, the stable and rapid charge-discharge operation in the high-concentration LiFSI/EMImFSI is presumably attributed to a suitable electrode/electrolyte interface with low resistivity. These results suggest that optimization of the electrolyte composition can realize safe and high-performance lithium-ion batteries that utilize ionic liquid-based electrolytes.