Ionic liquids offer a unique suite of properties that make them important candidates for a number of energy related applications. Cation-anion combinations that exhibit low volatility coupled with high electrochemical and thermal stability, as well as ionic conductivity, create the possibility of designing ideal electrolytes for batteries, super-capacitors, actuators, dye sensitised solar cells and thermoelectrochemical cells. In the field of water splitting to produce hydrogen they have been used to synthesize some of the best performing water oxidation catalysts and some members of the protic ionic liquid family co-catalyse an unusual, very high energy efficiency water oxidation process. As fuel cell electrolytes, the high proton conductivity of some of the protic ionic liquid family offers the potential of fuel cells operating in the optimum temperature region above 100 C. Beyond electrochemical applications, the low vapour pressure of these liquids, along with their ability to offer tuneable functionality, also makes them ideal as CO 2 absorbents for post-combustion CO 2 capture. Similarly, the tuneable phase properties of the many members of this large family of salts are also allowing the creation of phase-change thermal energy storage materials having melting points tuned to the application. This perspective article provides an overview of these developing energy related applications of ionic liquids and offers some thoughts on the emerging challenges and opportunities.

The oxidative stability of glyme molecules is enhanced by the complex formation with alkali metal cations. Clear liquid can be obtained by simply mixing glyme (triglyme or tetraglyme) with lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)amide (Li[TFSA]) in a molar ratio of 1:1. The equimolar complex [Li(triglyme or tetraglyme)(1)][TFSA] maintains a stable liquid state over a wide temperature range and can be regarded as a room-temperature ionic liquid consisting of a [Li(glyme)(1)](+) complex cation and a [TFSA](-) anion, exhibiting high self-dissociativity (ionicity) at room temperature. The electrochemical oxidation of [Li(glyme)(1)][TFSA] takes place at the electrode potential of ~5 V vs Li/Li(+), while the oxidation of solutions containing excess glyme molecules ([Li(glyme)(x)][TFSA], x > 1) occurs at around 4 V vs Li/Li(+). This enhancement of oxidative stability is due to the donation of lone pairs of ether oxygen atoms to the Li(+) cation, resulting in the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level lowering of a glyme molecule, which is confirmed by ab initio molecular orbital calculations. The solvation state of a Li(+) cation and ion conduction mechanism in the [Li(glyme)(x)][TFSA] solutions is elucidated by means of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electrochemical methods. The experimental results strongly suggest that Li(+) cation conduction in the equimolar complex takes place by the migration of [Li(glyme)(1)](+) cations, whereas the ligand exchange mechanism is overlapped when interfacial electrochemical reactions of [Li(glyme)(1)](+) cations occur. The ligand exchange conduction mode is typically seen in a lithium battery with a configuration of [Li anode|[Li(glyme)(1)][TFSA]|LiCoO(2) cathode] when the discharge reaction of a LiCoO(2) cathode, that is, desolvation of [Li(glyme)(1)](+) and insertion of the resultant Li(+) into the cathode, occurs at the electrode-electrolyte interface. The battery can be operated for more than 200 charge-discharge cycles in the cell voltage range of 3.0-4.2 V, regardless of the use of ether-based electrolyte, because the ligand exchange rate is much faster than the electrode reaction rate.

To demonstrate a new family of ionic liquids (ILs), i.e., "solvate" ionic liquids, the properties (thermal, transport, and electrochemical properties, Lewis basicity, and ionicity) of equimolar molten mixtures of glymes (triglyme (G3) and tetraglyme (G4)) and nine different lithium salts (LiX) were investigated. By exploring the anion-dependent properties and comparing them with the reported data on common aprotic ILs, two different classes of liquid regimes, i.e., ordinary concentrated solutions and "solvate" ILs, were found in the glyme-Li salt equimolar mixtures ([Li(glyme)]X) depending on the anionic structures. The class a given [Li(glyme)]X belonged to was governed by competitive interactions between the glymes and Li cations and between the counteranions (X) and Li cations. [Li(glyme)]X with weakly Lewis basic anions can form long-lived [Li(glyme)](+) complex cations. Thus, they behaved as typical ionic liquids. The lithium "solvate" ILs based on [Li(glyme)]X have many desirable properties for lithium-conducting electrolytes, including high ionicity, a high lithium transference number, high Li cation concentration, and high oxidative stability, in addition to the common properties of ionic liquids. The concept of "solvate" ionic liquids can be utilized in an unlimited number of combinations of other metal salts and ligands, and will thus open a new field of research on ionic liquids.

Innovation in the design of electrolyte materials is crucial for realizing next-generation electrochemical energy storage devices such as Li–S batteries. The theoretical capacity of the S cathode is 10 times higher than that of conventional cathode materials used in current Li–ion batteries. However, Li–S batteries suffer from the dissolution of lithium polysulfides, which are formed by the redox reaction at the S cathode. Herein, we present simple solvate ionic liquids, glyme–Li salt molten complexes, as excellent electrolyte candidates because they greatly suppress the dissolution of lithium polysulfides. The molten complexes do not readily dissolve other ionic solutes, which leads to the stable operation of the Li–S battery over more than 400 cycles with discharge capacities higher than 700 mAh g-sulfur−1 and with coulombic efficiencies higher than 98% throughout the cycles. Such high performance has not been realized to the best of our knowledge. Furthermore, the addition of a nonflammable fluorinated solvent, which does not break the solvate structure of the glyme–Li salt molten complexes, greatly enhances the power density of the Li–S battery. The strategic design of electrolyte properties provides opportunities for the development of new electrochemical devices with many different electrode materials.

Certain glymeLi salt complexes, which are composed of equimolar mixtures of a glyme and a Li salt, are liquid under ambient conditions with physicochemical properties such as high thermal stability, wide potential window, high ionic conductivity, and high Li + transference number and can be regarded as a new family of room-temperature ionic liquids.Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), which are liquid at room temperature and composed entirely of ions, have attracted much attention because of their unique properties such as nonflammability, low-volatility, high chemical stability, and high ionic conductivity.1 RTILs are expected to be applied to electrochemical devices, including electric double-layer capacitors, 2 fuel cells, 3 dye-sensitized solar cells, 4 and lithium ion batteries (LIBs).5 Most of the RTILs reported to date can be classified as combinations of weakly Lewis-acidic cations and weakly Lewis-basic anions, which leads to ionic dissociation without strong coordination of solvent molecules around each ion. Thus, the most common compositions of RTILs are combinations of onium cations such as imidazolium cations, quaternary ammonium cations, and quaternary phosphonium cations and soft anions such as bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)-amide (TFSA ¹ ), tetrafluoroborate (BF 4 ¹ ), and hexafluorophosphate (PF 6 ¹ ). There are few reports of RTILs consisting of strongly Lewis-acidic cations such as Li + and Na + and strongly Lewis-basic anions such as F ¹ and Cl ¹ . Melting points of salts consisting of strongly Lewis-acidic cations and strongly Lewisbasic anions are generally much higher than room temperature, resulting in the formation of ionic crystals at room temperature. So far, we have reported the preparation of lithium ionic liquids consisting of lithium salts of borates having electron-withdrawing groups, to reduce the anionic basicity, and lithium coordinating ether-ligands, to dissociate the lithium cations from the anionic centers.6 However, possibly due to the strong Lewis acidity of Li + , the viscosity and ionicity (dissociativity) of the lithium ionic liquids at room temperature are as high as 500 mPa s and as low as 0.10.2, respectively, resulting in a low ionic conductivity of 10 ¹5 S cm ¹1 at its maximum. Weakly Lewis-basic anions such as BF 4 ¹ and PF 6 ¹ are prepared by the reactions between Lewis acids (BF 3 and PF 5 ) and a Lewis base (F ¹ ) by forming coordination bonds. However, the preparation of weakly Lewis-acidic cations for RTILs by the reaction between a Lewis acid and a Lewis base has not been proposed. It is anticipated that weakly Lewis-acidic cations can be prepared by the combination of alkali metal cations (Lewis acid) and suitable ligands (Lewis base).Ethers are relatively strong Lewis bases, and alkali metal cations are strongly coordinated with ethers. It is well-known that particular molar ratio mixtures of Li salts and oligoethers such as crown ethers, triglyme (G3), and tetraglyme (G4) form complexes. Henderson et al. have conducted a systematic study of glymeLi salt...

A variety of binary mixtures of aprotic ionic liquids (ILs) and lithium salts were thoroughly studied as electrolytes for rechargeable lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries. The saturation solubility of sulfur and lithium polysulfides (Li 2 S m ), the active materials in the Li-S battery, in the electrolytes was quantitatively determined, and the performance of the Li-S battery using the electrolytes was also investigated. Although the solubility of nonionic sulfur was low in all of the electrolytes evaluated, the solubility of Li 2 S m in the IL-based electrolyte was strongly dependent on the anionic structure, and the difference in the solubility could be rationalized in terms of the donor ability of the IL solvent.Dissolution of Li 2 S m in the ILs with strong donor ability was comparable to that achieved with typical organic electrolytes; the strongly donating IL electrolyte did not prevent redox shuttle reaction in the Li-S cells. The battery performance was also influenced by unfavorable side reactions of the anions (such as tetrafluoroborate (BF 4 − ) and bis(fluorosulfonylamide) ([FSA] − )) with polysulfides and by slow mass transport in viscous ILs, even though the dissolution of Li 2 S m into the IL electrolyte was greatly suppressed. Among the IL-based electrolytes, the low-viscosity [TFSA]-based ILs facilitated stable charge/discharge of the Li-S batteries with high capacity and high coulombic efficiency. The unique solvent effect of the ILs can thus be exploited in the Li-S battery by judicious selection of ILs that exhibit high lithium-ion-transport ability and electrochemical stability in the presence of Li 2 S m .

Lithium ion batteries (LIBs), with high energy and power densities, have become essential to modern society as power sources for portable electronic devices. 1À3 Furthermore, electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with LIBs are now commercialized. The conventional electrolyte of LIBs is composed of mixed organic solvents (cyclic carbonate and linear carbonate) and LiPF 6 . 4 Linear carbonate solvents are extremely flammable, with flash points below room temperature, and LiPF 6 decomposes into HF with the presence of a slight amount of water at temperatures higher than 60 °C. 5 Thus, LIBs have thermal instability problems at elevated temperatures. To achieve a high degree of safety of LIBs, the development of thermally stable electrolytes is crucial.Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), which consist entirely of cations and anions, have attracted much attention owing to their unique properties such as low volatility, high thermal stability, high ionic conductivity, wide potential window, and high chemical stability. 5À7 RTILs are called "designer solvents" because their physicochemical properties can be easily tuned

Li+ intercalation into graphite electrodes was investigated in electrolytes consisting of triglyme (G3) and Li[TFSA] [TFSA = bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide]. Li+-intercalated graphite was successfully formed in an equimolar molten complex, [Li(G3)1][TFSA]. The desolvation of Li+ ions took place at the graphite/[Li(G3)1][TFSA] interface in the electrode potential range 0.3–0 V vs Li. In contrast, the cointercalation of G3 and Li+ (intercalation of solvate [Li(G3)1]+ cation) into graphite occurred in [Li(G3) x ][TFSA] electrolytes containing excess G3 (x > 1). This cointercalation took place in the voltage range 1.5–0.2 V of the [Li|[Li(G3) x ][TFSA]|graphite] cell. X-ray diffraction showed that the [Li(G3)1]+-intercalated graphite forms staged phases in the voltage range 1.5–0.3 V. However, exfoliation of the graphite is caused by further intercalation at voltages lower than 0.3 V. [Li(G3)1]+ intercalation was reversible in the voltage range 1.5–0.4 V. The cointercalation process was studied using cyclic voltammetry, and it was found that the electrode potential for cointercalation depends on the [Li(G3)1]+ activity, irrespective of the presence of free (uncoordinated) G3. In contrast, the electrode potential for the formation of Li+-intercalated graphite (desolvation of solvate [Li(G3)1]+ cation) changes greatly, depending on the activities of not only the solvate [Li(G3)1]+ cation but also free G3 in the electrolyte. In extremely concentrated electrolytes, the activity of the free solvent becomes very low. Raman spectroscopy confirmed a very low concentration of free G3 in [Li(G3)1][TFSA]. Consequently, the electrode potentials for the formation of Li+-intercalated graphite were higher than that for cointercalation, and the cointercalation of G3 was inhibited in [Li(G3)1][TFSA].