A Critical Evaluation of the Advanced Electrolyte Model

Abstract

A fast and accurate method to obtain transport properties of electrolyte solutions for Li-ion batteries is of great interest for both screening potential electrolyte candidates and for use in physics-based models of Li-ion cells. The Advanced Electrolyte Model (AEM) considers various molecular-scale interactions in a chemical physics framework to calculate these electrolyte transport properties in a computationally inexpensive manner. Should these calculations match experiment well, the AEM would be an ideal tool for the rapid determination of transport properties for various electrolyte systems. This paper aims to evaluate the accuracy of the AEM against experimental viscosity and conductivity data for electrolytes of interest in lithium batteries. Recent measurements, as well as previous measurements of now-obsolete electrolyte systems, are compared to corresponding calculations from the AEM. The availability of accurate laboratory data has allowed for improved accuracy of the AEM theory, molecular parameters and related predictions of properties, in particular for certain systems with low concentrations of ethylene carbonate (i.e. low permittivity electrolytes), as well as systems containing the salt Li triflate or the solvent sulfolane. The model now provides accurate calculations for the transport properties of most of the different systems considered here.