Topic: Application of Ionic Liquid Electrolytes in Electrochemical Energy Storage

Electrochemical devices, such as batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells, are one of the most suitable answers for efficient energy storage and conversion. One of the most promising approaches to overcome their safety and reliability issues (in particular, for lithium/sodium batteries and supercapacitors) is the replacement (partial or total) of the hazardous and volatile electrolyte solvents with non-flammable and non-volatile fluids called ionic liquids. These materials, molten salts at room temperature or below, possess several attractive properties, such as low melting point, good ion transport properties even at low temperatures, high thermal/chemical/electrochemical stabilities, and the possibility of tuning the properties by finely modulating their chemical structure. In addition, they are often seen to show better compatibility at the electrode interface than conventional organic electrolytes, thus improving the device's performance. In the last twenty years, the scientific community has recorded an impressive explosion of publications that focused on ionic liquid electrolytes for electrochemical systems. Therefore, although well-known over time, these topics are currently under deep investigation worldwide.

This Special Issue of Energy Materials will pool the latest achievements of key laboratories currently engaged in R&D of electrolytes (liquid, solid, hybrid) for batteries, supercapacitors, and fuel cells. So again, this Special Issue cordially invites researchers and experts working on cutting-edge materials technologies to submit your upcoming research results.

30 Apr 2023