LiCl Salt Research Articles

Ladder electrodialysis: Efficient up-concentration of lithium ion and its mechanisms behind

The development of lithium extraction technology from salt lakes has seen significant demand in recent years, driven by the surge in energy storage needs for lithium-ion batteries used in electric vehicles and renewable power plants. Currently, evaporation technologies such as Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) and Multi-Effect Distillation (MED) are commonly employed to concentrate lithium chloride for subsequent lithium carbonate precipitation. However, these evaporation methods limit lithium yield and increase capital and operational costs, particularly in high latitude areas. Pressure-driven membrane processes like reverse osmosis are hindered by concentration polarization and cannot significantly increase lithium chloride concentration. This study proposes a new membrane stack configuration with a laddered compartment design, termed Ladder Electrodialysis (LED), which addresses the concentration polarization issue and achieves a lithium salt (LiCl) concentration of 16.39 % (196 g·L−1). Economic analysis shows that the energy consumption is only 0.42 kWh per kilogram of LiCl. Ladder electrodialysis is a novel salt concentration technology, with applications in brine valorization or disposal.

Boosting Li-Ion Conductivity of Fluoride Solid Electrolyte by Low-Temperature Molten Salt Ablation and Particle Boundary Doping.

Halide solid electrolytes (SEs) are attracting great attention, owing to their high ionic conductivity and excellent high-voltage compatibility. However, severe moisture sensitivity, poor thermal stability, and instability at the lithium metal anode interface with chloride and bromide SEs retard their applications in solid-state lithium metal batteries. Fluoride SEs are expected to solve these problems, but they are now plagued by inadequate room-temperature (RT) ionic conductivity. Herein, a low-temperature molten salt (LiCl+1.33AlCl3) ablation method is proposed to enhance the ionic conductivity of monoclinic Li3GaF6 by particle boundary doping. The RT ionic conductivity of Li3GaF6 is correspondingly increased by 2 orders of magnitude, and the conductivity reaches 10-4 S cm-1 at 60 °C. The improved ionic conductivity benefits from the enhancement of interfacial ion transport, with the formation of more conductive chlorine-doped Li3GaF6-xClx and in situ binder LiAlCl4 to cement surrounding nanoparticles. The as-synthesized Li3GaF6 demonstrates outstanding humidity tolerance without conductivity degradation after exposure to a relative humidity of up to 35%. It also exhibits the widest electrochemical stability window experimentally (close to 6 V) compared with other state-of-the-art SEs. The solid-state Li/Li3GaF6/LiFePO4 cell with a stable Li+-conductive polymer interface is successfully driven for at least 200 cycles at 0.5C. Our study provides a solution to various chemical and electrochemical stability issues encountered by the halide SE family.

Monitoring Corrosion and Elemental Contamination in a Molten Li2O–LiCl Salt During Ten Oxide Reduction Runs of a 0.6 kg-Scale-Simulated Oxide Fuel

Monitoring Corrosion and Elemental Contamination in a Molten Li2O–LiCl Salt During Ten Oxide Reduction Runs of a 0.6 kg-Scale-Simulated Oxide Fuel

Li2O concentration influenced local structure and properties of molten LiCl salt by machine learning driven molecular dynamics simulation

Pyroprocessing is one of the promising technologies for the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. In the electrolytic reduction process of pyroprocessing, LiCl serves as the electrolyte with a minor addition of Li2O as the initial oxygen ion input. Investigating the impact of Li2O concentration on the molten salt system is essential for enhancing the efficiency of electrolytic reduction. In the present study, the LiCl-Li2O system is simulated using deep potential molecular dynamics simulation. The properties including self-diffusion coefficient, shear viscosity, ionic conductivity, heat capacity, radial distribution functions, coordination numbers, short-range order, medium-range order, Voronoi structure, and angle distribution functions are explored at different Li2O concentrations. This study reveals that the variations of physical properties at different Li2O concentrations in LiCl molten salt can be attributed to the changes in local structure. For example, unnormal high proportions of two Voronoi structures are found in the molten salt when the Li2O concentration increases, which may explain the changes of properties. These findings offer valuable insights for refining the parameters of electrolytic reduction and elucidating the correlation between microscopic and macroscopic phenomena.

Inorganic salts released from polypyrrole nanocapsules on compact TiO2 layer for highly efficient inorganic CsPbI3-type perovskite solar cells

The compact TiO2 serves as a crucial electron transport layer (ETL) for fabricating high-efficiency CsPbI3 solar cells. Modifying TiO2 with inorganic ions is regarded as a simple and effective method to optimize the band energy level, eliminate interface defects, and enhance the crystallinity of the CsPbI3 film. However, inorganic ions risk being washed away by perovskite solvents such as DMF and DMSO. In this work, core–shell inorganic salt (LiCl, NaCl, ZnCl2)@polypyrrole nanocapsules (PPy NCPs) were fabricated as a buffer layer at the interface of TiO2/CsPbI3 layer. The inorganic salts are released from PPy NCPs during the annealing process of the CsPbI3 precursor film, thereby preventing them from being washed away by the DMF/DMSO solvents. Compared to NaCl@PPy NCPs-TiO2, ZnCl2@PPy NCPs-TiO2, and pristine TiO2 films, the LiCl@PPy NCPs-TiO2 exhibited the best electron conductivity and highest Fermi level. The released LiCl not only passivates point defects in TiO2 by forming Li-O-Ti bonds, optimizing the energy level at the TiO2/perovskite interface, but also incorporates into the CsPbI3 lattice, improving its crystallinity. As a result, solar cells based on LiCl@PPy NCPs-TiO2 layer demonstrated a higher PCE of 19.78 %, along with increased open-circuit voltage (VOC) and fill factor (FF) values of 1.161 V and 83.1 %, respectively. Furthermore, the LiCl@PPy NCPs-TiO2 layer also enhanced the stability of CsPbI3 solar cells under humidity conditions.

Hierarchical Silica Composites for Enhanced Water Adsorption at Low Humidity.

To combat water scarcity in remote areas around the world, adsorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (AWH) has been proposed as a technology that can be used alongside existing water production capabilities. However, commonly used adsorbents either have low water adsorption loadings or are difficult to regenerate. In this work, we developed two novel hierarchical silica-salt composites that both exhibit high water adsorption loadings under dry and humid conditions. The total water vapor loading, kinetics, and heats of water adsorption for both silica-salt composites were investigated. As hierarchical silicas have tunable pores and large pore volumes, these materials serve as effective host matrixes for the hygroscopic salt LiCl. Our results suggest that hierarchical pores play a significant role in water adsorption: micropores and some smaller mesopores act as "storage" sites for hygroscopic salt, whereas larger mesopores and macropores increase the accessibility of water vapor into the silica. Using this mix of pores, we achieved greater than 0.4 g H2O/g composite at 10% RH and 27 °C. Additionally, we found that the salt-impregnated silica and bare silica had the same heat of adsorption: 80-90 kJ/mol. The results suggest that the H-bond interactions are similar for both systems and that the primary mechanism at play here is water cluster adsorption/desorption. Despite the similar energies, the LiCl-containing materials exhibited considerably slower kinetics than bare silica materials. Of equal importance to the adsorption capacity and kinetics of these composites is their mechanical stability. To assess their mechanical stability, high-energy ball milling of silica was conducted to create more uniform particle sizes. However, reduced particle sizes came at a cost─the BET surface areas and pore volumes were drastically decreased after more than 1 h of ball milling. Findings from this study suggest that short-term ball milling may be a viable large-scale option to reduce particle size in silica materials without sacrificing significant performance.

Analysis of the effect of cations on protein conformational stability using solid-state nanopores.

The conformation of proteins is closely related to their biological functions, and it is affected by many factors, including the type of cations in solution. However, it is difficult to detect the conformational changes of a protein in situ. As a single-molecule sensing technology, nanopores can convert molecular structural information into analyzable current signals within a reasonable time range. Herein, we detect and analyze the effects of two different types of monovalent cations (Na+ and Li+) on a model protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) conformation using SiNx nanopores with different diameters. The quantitative analysis results show that the excluded volume of BSA in LiCl salt solutions is larger than the value in NaCl solution, indicating that Li+ is more prone to unfolding the proteins and making them unstable. This study demonstrated that nanopores enable the in situ detection of the structure of proteins at the single-molecule level and provide a new approach for the quantitative analysis of proteins.

Controlling the polymorphs of PVDF membranes: Effects of a salt additive on PVDF polarization during phase separation processes

Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes, acclaimed for their outstanding chemical resistance, thermal stability, and mechanical properties, play a crucial role in diverse industrial purification applications. While various methods have been employed for fabricating PVDF membranes such as thermally induced, evaporation-induced, vapor-induced, and nonsolvent-induced phase separation processes, controlling the polarity of PVDF chains using these techniques remains challenging. Recent studies have shown that the nonpolar α-phase PVDF is susceptible to organic acid fouling owing to hydrophobic interactions, whereas the β-phase PVDF has demonstrated polarity and offers antifouling properties. Herein, porous PVDF membranes predominantly composed of the β-phase were successfully fabricated by incorporating a small amount of LiCl salt into the PVDF dope solution. The addition of LiCl influences ion–dipole moments between ions and PVDF during phase separation, simultaneously affecting the PVDF chain arrangement and membrane morphology. Since the LiCl additive alters both the pore size and structure of PVDF membranes, both freestanding and non-woven supported membranes were prepared and characterized to assess the effects of polarity and pore size on fouling tendency. Characterizations of prepared PVDF membranes revealed considerable changes in the PVDF polymorph, membrane morphology, pore size, and antifouling properties upon introducing the salt additive. Our findings imply that β-phase–dominant PVDF membranes can be effectively utilized in water purification applications.

A binary salt composite adsorbent material for solar-driven sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting

Solar-driven sorption-based atmospheric water harvesting (SSAWH) technology stands as a promising avenue for sourcing freshwater in arid and remote regions. For real-world large-scale applications, the effective water absorption capacity, broad humidity absorption range, and rapid desorption properties of adsorbent materials have been the main goals of the research area. In this context, we have developed a binary salt composite adsorbent material (PAMg-Li) for solar-driven water harvesting by integrating binary hygroscopic salts MgSO4 particles and LiCl particles, activated carbon fiber (ACF), and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). The inherent porous structure and interconnected channels at micro and nano scales of PAMg-Li facilitate water absorption, and obtained satisfactory water absorption rate even at 30% relative humidity (RH). It has been shown to be able to achieve a high water storage capacity and realize water desorption under natural light. A home-made device based on PAMg-Li obtained a water evaporation rate of 0.084 kg/(m2·h) under solar radiation intensities ranging from 200 to 850 W/m2. The PAMg-Li material developed in this work can be a candidate for a more practical and effective choice for SSAWH.

Application of the Born Model to Describe Salt Partitioning in Hydrated Polymers.

The classic Born model can be used to predict salt partitioning properties observed in hydrated polymers, but there are often significant quantitative discrepancies between these predictions and the experimental data. Here, we use an updated version of the Born model, reformulated to account for the local environment and mesh size of a hydrated polymer, to describe previously published NaCl, KCl, and LiCl partitioning properties of model cross-linked poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate polymers. This reformulated Born model describes the influence of polymer structure (i.e., network mesh size and its relationship with water content) and external salt concentration on salt partitioning in the polymers with a significant improvement relative to the classic Born model. The updated model most effectively describes NaCl partitioning properties and provides an additional fundamental understanding of salt partitioning processes, for NaCl, KCl, and LiCl, in hydrated polymers that are of interest for a variety of environmental and biological applications.

Optimal utilization of waste wool: Preparation of bionic moisture-absorbing keratin membrane with hierarchical porous structure to harvest atmospheric moisture

In addressing the challenge of water scarcity, solar-assisted atmospheric water harvesting (SAWH) has emerged as a promising strategy. Here, we have designed a hierarchical regenerated wool keratin membrane (LiCl@CNMC) that mimics the natural Murray network. Carbon nano tube, serving as solar absorbers, are uniformly deposited on the hierarchical keratin membrane. Hygroscopic salt LiCl is impregnated into the keratin membrane to achieve exceptional water uptake capacity. Under simulated sunlight exposure, the surface temperature can reach 83.5 °C. Furthermore, the LiCl@CNMC membrane exhibits outstanding water absorption (0.79–2.67 g g−1) and desorption performance at 30–80 % RH. The bionic water-collecting membrane can carry out 12 adsorption–desorption cycles every day under outdoor conditions, and yielding 11.92 g g−1 day−1 of clean water. The design of regenerated keratin membrane not only provides a direct way for the regeneration and utilization of keratin materials, but also provides valuable guidance and inspiration for the preparation and application of natural polymers found.

Pyrolysis of rice husk in molten lithium chloride: Biochar structure evolution and CO2 adsorption

Biochars are attained by direct pyrolysis of the mixture of rice husk (RH) powders and lithium chloride within 600–800 °C. The physical and chemical properties of RH biochars are studied using diverse characterization techniques. Effects of pyrolysis temperature and salt/biomass ratio on the structure properties and CO2 adsorption performances of RH biochars are tested at 25 °C and 100 kPa. The results show that the CO2 uptakes of RH biochars first ascend and then descend with incremental pyrolysis temperature and basically increase with the elevation of the salt/biomass ratio. The biochar prepared at 700 °C with the salt/biomass ratio of 7.5 in an air atmosphere presents the highest CO2 uptake of 2.70 mmol/g, which is much higher than the one (1.98 mmol/g) obtained at 700 °C without addition of LiCl salts in a nitrogen stream mainly due to its bigger specific surface area, higher contents of chemisorbed oxygen and carbon defect structures. Pyrolysis of rice husk in molten LiCl can effectively improve the porosity and the surface functionality of the biochar, thereby enhancing its CO2 capture performance.

Efficient and cold-tolerant moisture-enabled power generator combining ionic diode and ionic hydrogel.

The ionic diode structure has become one of the attractive structures in the field of moisture-based power generation. However, existing devices still suffer from poor moisture trapping, low surface charge, and inefficient ion separation, resulting in low output power. Moreover, water freezes at low temperatures (<0 °C), limiting the ionic diode structure to generate electricity in cold environments. In this paper, a moisture-enabled power generator has been designed and fabricated, which assembles a negatively charged ionic hydrogel film and a positively charged anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) film to construct a heterojunction. The hydrogel polymer network is modified with a large number of sulfonate groups that dissociate to provide nanoscale pores with high surface charge to improve the rectification ratio. And the lithium chloride (LiCl) salt with high hydration ability is added to the hydrogel as a moisture-trapping and anti-freezing component. Usually salt ions reduce the Debye length, so that the ion transport is finally not controlled by the electric double layer (EDL) and the rectification fails. Interestingly, due to the natural affinity of the hydrogel polymer network for LiCl, LiCl is locked on the hydrogel side and does not easily enter the AAO pores to change the distribution of EDL within the nanochannel. As a result, the device rectification ratio is almost independent of the amount of LiCl addition, demonstrating an excellent balance of high output power and high freeze resistance. Ultimately, the device exhibits excellent power generation performance in the -20 °C to 60 °C temperature range and 15% to 93% RH humidity range. Typically, under high humidity (93% RH) at room temperature (25 °C), it provides an open-circuit voltage of 1.25 V and a short-circuit current of 300 μA cm-2, with an on-load output power of up to 71.35 μW cm-2. Under medium humidity (50% RH) at low temperature (-20 °C), it provides an open-circuit voltage of 1.11 V and a short-circuit current of 15 μA cm-2.

Ion-specific effects on foam films and foam from diluted solution of sodium dodecyl sulfate

The ion-specific effects on extremely diluted solutions of surfactants are poorly studied. The effect of Li+ , Na+ and K+ ions on the properties of foam films and foam stabilized by 0.05 mmol/L sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) was studied. Each one of the salts LiCl, NaCl and KCl in the concentration range of 1.1 mmol/L to 50 mmol/L was added to 0.05 mmol/L solution of SDS, for studying the properties of its foam films and foams. It was established that the surface potential of the foam films does not depend on the type of salt added, which means that no ion-specific effects are registered. On the contrary, such effects are evident in the case of foam produced by sparging of gas through porous bottom of column containing the same solutions. Thus, the rates of foaming, foam decay and the foam lifetime vs. the concentration of added salt (LiCl, NaCl and KCl) were studied by means of Dynamic Foam Analyzer (DFA-100, Kruss Ltd, Germany). The foam production number for each one of these cases was calculated as well. It was established that both NaCl and KCl boost the foam, the first one of which being stronger than the second one. On the contrary, LiCl has no effect on the foamability of the system. The present study is an example for manifestation of a salt-specific effect under dynamic conditions, which vanishes under static conditions.

An effective thermal conductivity correlation for three high-temperature chloride salts melting in a spherical thermal storage capsule

ABSTRACT Chloride salts are viable phase change materials (PCMs) for packed-bed thermal energy storage for third-generation concentrating solar power (CSP) systems. In the study, a two-dimensional, axisymmetric and transient model is developed to simulate the constrained melting process of three chloride salts (NaCl-CaCl2, LiCl and MgCl2) in a spherical capsule while considering the natural convection of the salt. The simulation results lead to the proposal of an effective thermal conductivity correlation for the liquid part of these three PCMs’ melting process in a sphere, represented as λ eff/λ l = 0.38Ra 0.26(δ/R i)0.25. Additionally, a simplified conduction-controlled numerical model has been developed for predicting the melting process of chloride salts in a spherical capsule with improved accuracy and efficiency. The proposed correlation improves the conduction-controlled model’s accuracy in predicting the melting process compared to other correlations previously reported in literature. The proposed correlation comprehensively reflects the conduction and natural convection of the chloride salts during the constrained melting process in a sphere.

Exceptionally flexible and stable quasi-solid-state supercapacitors via salt-in-polyampholytes electrolyte with non-freezable properties

Hydrogel electrolytes have been intensively studied for a decade, due to their outstanding intrinsic physical properties, such as good flexibility, high stretchability, and high ionic conductivity. However, due to their low mechanical strength (<103 Pa) and poor ionic conductivity (<1 mS/cm) at low temperatures, many researchers have been focusing on improving these issues. Thus, in our study, we prepared salt-in-polyampholytes (SIPAs) that have two different counterions (Li+ and Cl-) in an aqueous medium via facile one-step UV radical polymerization. Polyampholyte (PA) improves the toughness and elongation by inducing strong ionic interactions between opposite charges in the polymer chains, but also exhibits excellent recovery ability under periodically changing strain and strong adhesion with electrodes. Furthermore, the incorporation of LiCl salt into our PA results in SIPA with high ionic conductivity at 25 °C (134 mS/cm) and even at sub-zero temperatures (15 mS/cm). Consequently, the non-freezable SIPA-based quasi-solid-state supercapacitor (QSS), assembled with activated carbon electrodes, exhibits a wide operating voltage window as high as 2.0 V, a high specific capacitance of 241 F/g, and high energy (34 Wh/kg) and power (598 W/kg) densities, along with excellent cycling stability, retaining 91 % of the initial capacitance even after 20,000 cycles at 1 A/g. Besides, the QSS electrochemical performance remains unaffected under bending and rolling deformations at a low temperature, demonstrating excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrochemical stability of our system. This work provides an effective strategy for designing energy storage devices that are both foldable and reliable, making them suitable for use in extreme environments.

Thermal and structural properties of polyzwitterions: Effects of monomer chemistry and salt addition

Thermal and structural properties of polyzwitterions (PZI)s comprising the sulfobetaine moiety were studied as a function of LiCl addition and variations in monomer chemistry. The polyzwitterions chosen for this study are: poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate), PSBMA; poly(sulfobetaine acrylate), PSBA; and, poly(ethyl sulfobetaine methacrylate), PESBMA. When LiCl salt is added, the Li+and Cl− ions disrupt the dipole-dipole electrostatic interaction of the PZI side groups. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy shows that the vibrational frequencies of the symmetric and asymmetric S=O bonds increase as LiCl content increases. Structural studies by wide angle X-ray scattering show that all the PZIs are amorphous, and the average interatomic spacing, d, increases in the order: dPSBA(= 0.456±0.006nm) < dPSBMA (= 0.474±0.015nm) < dPESBMA (= 0.493±0.011nm). Upon the addition of LiCl, d-spacing for a given PZI decreases as LiCl content increases. Thermogravimetry showed that PZIs had degradation onset temperatures Td ∼ 300°C. As LiCl content increases, the onset temperature of degradation decreases suggesting that the disruption of dipole-dipole crosslinks destabilizes the polymer. All the PZIs are hydrophilic and hygroscopic, and a drying procedure was developed so that well-defined glass-to-liquid transitions could be observed in the dry solid state. PZIs without LiCl have glass transition temperatures, Tg, increasing in the order: Tg,PSBA(= 200±1°C) < Tg,PESBMA (= 204±1°C) < Tg,PSBMA (= 237±1°C). As the LiCl content increases, Tg decreases, and the liquid state heat capacity increases, in all PZIs. The specific heat capacity increment at Tg was studied for PSBA as a function of LiCl content. In PSBA, the heat capacity increment reached a maximum for molar ZI:LiCl content at and above 1:1, and its value agreed well with predictions based on an empirical bead model of polymers. Thermal data on the dry state of PZI-LiCl complexes suggest an analogy between electrostatically crosslinked, fully amorphous PZIs and semicrystalline polymers. The dipolar crosslinks confine the molecular motion of PZIs just as crystal domains confine the molecular motion of the amorphous phase in semicrystalline polymers.

Novel dipole-enhancement mechanism and detection of high-sensitivity trace environmental hormone bisphenol A with LiCl as co-adsorbates using simple metal-nanoparticle-free solid SERS substrates

Some halogen ions (X = Cl-,Br-,I-) dissociated from alkali-metal-salt analyte (NaX(aq), KX(aq)) were used to enhance SERS signals in colloid substrates. The currently proposed mechanisms of halogen ions enhanced colloid SERS signals is the halogen ions as an aggregating agent to enhance analyte molecules on the hotspots. No effect of solid-state halogen salt on the solid SERS substrates is reported and remaining unclear. Here, a novel dipole-enhancement mechanism of new LiCl(s) salt addition to bisphenol A (BPA) of environmental hormone as co-adsorbates on solid SERS substrates is proposed, which exhibits the strong dipoles interaction of the solid state LiCl(s) with phenol and the better affinity of LiCl-BPA than BPA on the surface of substrate. The dipoles of solid-state LiCl(s) can attract the OH- bonds and benzene rings of BPA molecules, leading to specific amplification of those closer bonds. Also, LiCl interrupts the H-bonds of solution, resulting in better affinity and hydrophilicity, which enables nonspecific amplification of SERS spectra. A low concentration of 1 ppb BPA was detected by adding 1 wt% LiCl and a good coefficient of determination (R2 =0.9955) of BPA was achieved. Testing commercial plastic spoons and zipper bags with Bisphenol about 7.3 and 20.1 ppb were practically demonstrated.

Оценка эффективности применения абсорбционных тепловых насосов повышающего типа для теплоснабжения на основе среднетемпературных геотермальных источников

On the territory of the Russian Federation, there are a large number of geothermal heat sources with a low, no more than 50 °C, temperature potential, on the basis of which it is possible to create environmentally friendly heat supply systems using heat pumps. Efficiency assessments were made for the use of boost-type absorption heat pumps for these purposes, in which a geothermal or technogenic heat source with a temperature of 40…45 °C is theoretically capable of providing heating of the heat carrier of the heat supply system to 55…63 °C in winter at specific costs of electrical energy for the operation of circulation pumps, automation and control systems - not more than 1.0 % of their useful heat output. The ambient air with negative temperatures sufficient to lower the temperature of the coolant to minus 4°C was considered as a cooling medium. The range of calculated values of the heat transformation coefficients for the considered conditions was α = 0.46…0.47. An analysis of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of using aqueous solutions of LiBr and LiCl salts as working bodies was carried out, on the basis of which the prospects for using the LiCl salt aqueous solutions in absorption heat pumps of a boosting type were shown.

Effective Recognition of Lithium Salt in (Choline Chloride: Glycerol) Deep Eutectic Solvent by Reichardt’s Betaine Dye 33

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have emerged as novel alternatives to common solvents and VOCs. Their employment as electrolytes in batteries has been an area of intense research. In this context, understanding changes in the physicochemical properties of DESs in the presence of Li salts becomes of utmost importance. Solvatochromic probes have the potential to gauge such changes. It is reported herein that one such UV–vis molecular absorbance probe, Reichardt’s betaine dye 33, effectively manifests changes taking place in a DES Glyceline composed of H-bond accepting salt choline chloride and H-bond donor glycerol in a 1:2 molar ratio, as salt LiCl is added. The lowest energy intramolecular charge–transfer absorbance band of this dye exhibits a 17 nm hypsochromic shift as up to 3.0 molal LiCl is added to Glyceline. The estimated ETN parameter shows a linear increase with the LiCl mole fraction. Spectroscopic responses of betaine dye 33, N,N-diethyl-4-nitroaniline and 4-nitroaniline are used to assess empirical Kamlet–Taft parameters of dipolarity/polarizability (π*), H-bond-donating acidity (α) and H-bond-accepting basicity (β) as a function of LiCl concentration in Glyceline. LiCl addition to Glyceline results in an increase in α and no change in π* and β. It is proposed that the added lithium interacts with the oxygen of the –OH functionalities on the glycerol rendering of the solvent with increased H-bond-donating acidity. It is observed that pyrene, a popular fluorescence probe of solvent polarity, does respond to the addition of LiCl to Glyceline, however, the change in pyrene response starts to become noticeable only at higher LiCl concentrations (mLiCl ≥ 1.5 m). Reichardt’s betaine dye is found to be highly sensitive and versatile in gauging the physicochemical properties of DESs in the presence of LiCl.