Reversible Electrochemical Interface of Mg Metal and Conventional Electrolyte Enabled by Intermediate Adsorption

Conventional electrolytes made by mixing simple Mg2+ salts and aprotic solvents, analogous to those in Li-ion batteries, are incompatible with Mg anodes because Mg metal readily reacts with such electrolytes, producing a passivation layer that blocks Mg2+ transport. Here, we report that, through tuning a conventional electrolyte—Mg(TFSI)2 (TFSI– is N(SO2CF3)2–)—with an Mg(BH4)2 cosalt, highly reversible Mg plating/stripping with a high Coulombic efficiency is achieved by neutralizing the first solvation shell of Mg cationic clusters between Mg2+ and TFSI– and enhanced reductive stability of free TFSI–. A critical adsorption step between Mg0 atoms and active Mg cation clusters involving BH4– anions is identified to be the key enabler for reversible Mg plating/stripping through analysis of the distribution of relaxation times (DRT) from operando electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), operando electrochemical X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations.