Fig. 1: Schematic illustrating the design concept for a low-Tf electrolyte.
a Relationship between Gibbs free energy, entropy of liquid and the freezing point, in which S represents entropy of systems. b Hofmeister series with four different anions (top) and the models of the corresponding four aqueous zinc salt solution for MD simulations (bottom). c The original water molecules form a tetrahedral network structure through hydrogen bonding. When the network composed of tetrahedrally structured water is disturbed by the introduction of ions, the water diffusion dynamics and S increase simultaneously (left). In addition, a solvation shell forms around the ions. As a result of the restriction imposed by the ionic electric field, the diffusion dynamics of water molecules is slowed with a reduction in S (middle). Water molecule bonding to an anion and other water molecules serve as two competing dynamic chemical exchange processes (right).
