Boronium ions are arguably one of the most promising yet understudied types of cations of potential utility in ionic liquids and their electrochemical applications. While most mono-boron compounds are highly sensitive to air and water, boronium ions tend to be robust to both, as well as being comparable in thermal stability to classical organic electrolyte ions such as quaternary ammoniums and imidazoliums. Using boronium ions, we have recently created new room-temperature liquid electrolytes, cf., ionic liquids, that are competitive (in terms of the width of their electrochemical window) with widely-used ILs such as N,N-dialkylpyrrolidiniums; Furthermore, high-level ab initio calculations have shed light into the origin of their stability towards reduction, and provide insights into how modifications to their basic structures might lead to ions with even better performance.
展开▼
