Fluorine-free salts for aqueous lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery electrolytes

A first generation of fluorine-free lithium and sodium salts based on the concept of pseudo-delocalized anions has been synthesized with both high purity and yield using water as the solvent in the reaction medium. The salts have been fully characterized by Raman and FT-IR spectroscopies, thermogravimetry, and X-ray crystallography to reveal both basic properties in terms of thermal stability and solubility as well as the local, mainly ion–ion interaction dictated, coordination details and by ionic conductivity and electrochemical stability window measurements as aqueous electrolytes. Together a picture is created of the salts' promise as components in electrolytes – primarily aiming at application in low voltage fluorine-free aqueous lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs).