Description

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Electrolytes are indispensable components in electrochemistry and the fast-growing electrochemical energy storage markets. Research in electrolytes has witnessed exponential growth in recent years, accompanied by their applications in the most popular electrochemical cell ever invented, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). In myriads of LIBs, electrolytes and their interphases determine how high the voltage of a battery is, how many times it can be charged/discharged, or how rapid the energy stored therein could be released. The conquest of further technical challenges around safety, life and cost-effectiveness of lithium-based or beyond-lithium batteries requires in-depth understanding of electrolytes and interphases. This will be the authoritative textbook for those entering the field. Chapters will establish the fundamental principles for the field, before moving onto important knowledge acquired in recent years. There will be special emphasis on linking these fundamentals to real-world problems encountered in devices, especially lithium-ion batteries. The book will be suitable for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in electrochemical energy storage, electrochemistry, materials science and engineering, as well as researchers new to the subject.

About the Author

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Kang Xu graduated from Southwest University (China) with B. Sc. in chemistry, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Academy of Sciences (China) with M. Sc. in polymer chemistry, and Arizona State University with Ph. D. in chemistry. He is currently an ARL Fellow and Team Leader at U. S. Army Research Laboratory located in Maryland, USA, and an adjunct professor at University of Maryland College Park. He has been doing researches on electrolyte materials and interphasial chemistry for over 30 years. His representative research include non-flammable electrolytes for Li-ion batteries, design and synthesis of new electrolyte salts, solvents and additives, formation chemistry and mechanism of interphases, high voltage super-concentrated aqueous electrolytes as well as new aqueous battery chemistries. Among his 280+ publications and 5 book chapters, he is best known in the field for the two comprehensive review articles published at Chemical Reviews in 2004 and 2014, respectively, which were regarded as desktop references for researchers around the world. His research has been recognized by many awards, including the International Battery Association 2017 Technology Award and Electrochemical Society 2018 Research Award.