Seminar Abstract:

Calcium metal’s abundance and electrochemical properties motivate research towards its use in secondary batteries. Due to passivation of the metal in common battery salts and solvents, there is a need for new electrolytes which create an interphase that is electronically insulating in the voltage window of the battery, but ionically conductive.  The seminar is based on work by Li et al. (Nat. Energy 2024), which outlines a simple galvanic-replacement-based synthesis of calcium-organoborate salts for electrolytes, and studies the resulting interphase formed for calcium-metal batteries. The central question I will discuss is how anion design influences the reversible deposition of calcium through transport and interphase chemistry.