Microscopic structure and dynamics of LiBF4 solutions in cyclic and linear carbonates

Motivated by development of lithium-ion batteries, we study the structure and dynamics of LiBF(4) in pure and mixed solvents with various salt concentrations. For this purpose, we have developed force field models for ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, dimethyl carbonate, and dimethoxyethane. We find that Li(+) is preferentially solvated by the cyclic and more polar component of the mixtures, as the electrostatic interaction overcomes possible steric hindrances. The cation coordination number decreases from 6 to 5 with increasing salt concentration due to formation of ion-pairs. The uniform decline of the diffusion coefficients of the two ions is disrupted at mixture compositions that perturb the ion-pair interaction. We show that the Stokes' model of diffusion can be applied to the very small Li(+) ion, provided that the size of the first solvation shell is properly taken into consideration. The strong coordination of the ions by the polar, cyclic components of the solvent mixtures established in our simulations suggests that the less polar linear component can be optimized in order to reduce electrolyte viscosity and to achieve high electrical conductivity.