New Concepts in Electrolytes

Over the past decades, Li-ion battery (LIB) has turned into one of the most important advances in the history of technology due to its extensive and in-depth impact on our life. Its omnipresence in all electric vehicles, consumer electronics and electric grids relies on the precisely tuned electrochemical dynamics and interactions among the electrolytes and the diversified anode and cathode chemistries therein. With consumers’ demand for battery performance ever increasing, more and more stringent requirements are being imposed upon the established equilibria among these LIB components, and it became clear that the state-of-the-art electrolyte systems could no longer sustain the desired technological trajectory. Driven by such gap, researchers started to explore more unconventional electrolyte systems. From superconcentrated solvent-in-salt electrolytes to solid-state electrolytes, the current research realm of novel electrolyte systems has grown to unprecedented levels. In this review, we will avoid discussions on current state-of-the-art electrolytes but instead focus exclusively on unconventional electrolyte systems that represent new concepts.