Now Available: Magnesium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide

Now Available: Magnesium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (Mg (BTA)2)

One of the major problems for the commercialization of Li-S and Li-air batteries is the non homogeneous deposition on the metal anode, leading to dendrite growth and finally to short circuits. One way to control the morphology of metal deposits is to use the right additives.

Ionic liquids with their high electrochemical and thermal stability, combined with their very low vapour pressure and non-flammability can be used as such additives, but a recent paper showed that there is another alternative.[1]

The authors used different amounts of magnesium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ( Mg (BTA)2 ) to a standard lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide containing glycol based electrolyte and observed that by the addition up to 0.5 M Mg(BTA)2 the dendrite growth on cycling can be considerably reduced. The proposed mechanism is that an initial Mg deposition occurs, which then allows the reversible formation of a smooth Li-Mg alloy.

Although the dendrite formation has been suppressed, the columbic efficiency goes down with increase of the Mg(BTA)2 concentration, so further improvement of the electrolyte, e.g. by addition of ionic liquids is required.

Magnesium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide ( Mg(BTA)2 ) is now available in high purity from IOLITEC.

Please contact us under info@iolitec.de  for further details and recommendations on ionic liquid-based electrolytes and additives.

 

[1] M. Shimizu, M. Umekia, S. Arai, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys 2018, 20, 1127—1133.