Performance of ethanolamine-based ionic liquids as novel green electrolytes for the electrochemical energy storage applications.

• The synthesized ILs were used as novel green electrolytes for supercapacitors. • Among the ILs, the smallest anion, formate, exhibited the highest performance. • The highest value of energy density of 70 Wh kg−1 was related to the farmate anion. Supercapacitors are promising technologies for extremely effective energy storage and power management, which is a critical and major area of worldwide technological advancement. Ionic liquids (ILs) are an environmentally benign promising emerging class of versatile solvent systems. In this paper, for the first time, a new approach to the application of monoethanolamine-based ILs with anions formate, acetate, and propionate ([HEA]F, [HEA]A, and [HEA]P) as eco-friendly, affordable, and easy synthesis electrolytes are proposed for activated carbon (AC)-based supercapacitors. The ionic conductivity and the electrochemical stable potential window (ESPW) of ionic liquids were assessed. The electrochemical performance of synthesized ILs as an electrolyte in AC-based supercapacitors was compared. Electrochemical properties were performed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), cyclic voltammetry (CV), linear sweep voltammetry (LSV), and galvanostatic charge-discharge (GCD) methods to evaluate the electrolytic performance of ionic liquids in supercapacitors. The charge transfer resistance (R ct) and solution resistance (R s) decreased with decreasing anion size of ILs. At a scan rate of 10 mVs−1, the prepared supercapacitors using [HEA]F, [HEA]A, and [HEA]P ionic liquids deliver specific capacitance of 114, 95, and 73 F g−1, respectively. The maximum power density 2941 W kg−1 and maximum energy density 70 Wh kg−1 were obtained for the prepared supercapacitor using [HEA]F ionic liquid. The supercapacitors prepared with [HEA]F, [HEA]A and [HEA]P electrolytes show capacitance retention of 96%, 91% and 87% after 5000 charge-discharge cycles, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]