The Power of Stoichiometry: Conditioning and Speciation of MgCl2/AlCl3 in Tetraethylene Glycol Dimethyl Ether-Based Electrolytes

Bieker G, Salama M, Kolek M, Gofer Y, Bieker P, Aurbach D, Winter M

Abstract

In many Mg-based battery systems, the reversibility of Mg deposition and dissolution is lowered by parasitic formation processes of the electrolyte. Therefore, high Coulombic efficiencies of Mg deposition and dissolution are only achieved after several ‘conditioning’ cycles. As this phenomenon is especially reported for AlCl3-containing solutions, this study focusses on the ‘conditioning’ mechanisms of MgCl2/AlCl3 and MgHMDS2/AlCl3 (HMDS = hexamethyldisilazide) in tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether (TEGDME)-based electrolytes. Electrochemical (cyclic voltammetry) and spectroscopic investigations (27Al nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS)) reveal that cationic AlCl2+ species in TEGDME-based electrolytes with an AlCl3/MgCl2 ratio higher than 1:1 corrode Mg metal. According to a cementation reaction mechanism, the corrosion of Mg is accompanied with Al deposition. In effect, the consumption of Mg results in low Coulombic efficiencies of Mg deposition and dissolution during the electrolyte ‘conditioning’. After understanding the mechanism of this process, we demonstrate that a careful adjustment of the stoichiometry in MgCl2/AlCl3 and MgHMDS2/AlCl3 in TEGDME formulations prevents Mg corrosion and results in ‘conditioning’-free, highly efficient Mg deposition and dissolution.