Investigation of methoxypropionitrile as co-solvent for ethylene carbonate based electrolyte in supercapacitors. A safe and wide temperature range electrolyte

• DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2013.01.084
• Publication Date: 2013-01-28T18:48:51Z
• Authors: E. Perricone; M. Chamas; L. Cointeaux; J.-C. Leprêtre; P. Judeinstein; P. Azais; F. Béguin; F. Alloin
• Keywords: Propylene carbonate; Tetrafluoroborate; Atmospheric temperature range; Dimethyl carbonate

Abstract The performances obtained with methoxypropionitrile/ethylene carbonate mixture based electrolytes were investigated in supercapacitor application. The incorporation of methoxypropionitrile allows a good compromise between electrochemical performances and safety issue to be exhibited in a wide temperature range. This improvement is associated with the decrease of electrolyte viscosity without compromising the salt solubility and dissociation. The highest conductivity values, 20 mS cm −1 at 30 °C compared to 14 mS cm −1 in PC (propylene carbonate), were obtained with both 1 M tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate (TEABF 4 ) and spiro-(1,1′)-bipyrrolidium tetrafluoroborate (SBPBF 4 ) salts. Bulk liquid state was conserved for these electrolytes in a wide temperature range. Then, interesting electrolyte conductivities were obtained at low temperature (5.2 mS cm −1 at −25 °C) which is twice that of PC + TEABF 4 1 M electrolyte at the same conditions. Moreover, the capacitor performance of EC/MP based electrolyte is better than PC one at room temperature.