The invention belongs to the technical field of
energy materials, further relates to the field of
alkali metal batteries, and particularly relates to an
electrolyte for an
alkali metal-
thionyl chloride secondary battery and application of the
electrolyte. The
electrolyte is salt capable of transmitting
alkali metal ions,
thionyl chloride and an additive; the additive is a salt of organic
aniline cations. The additive is added into a basic electrolyte adopted by the alkali
metal-
thionyl chloride secondary battery. According to the present invention, with the introduced additive, the
redox couple of the carbon positive
electrode interface, which actually participates in the electrochemical reaction, can be changed, the potential and the capacity of the
discharge platform under the large
current density can be significantly improved, the
voltage hysteresis phenomenon can be significantly improved, and the alkali
metal-
thionyl chloride secondary battery can obtain the excellent
specific energy and the excellent energy efficiency. Compared with a comparison sample without addition of the additive, the battery using the additive provided by the invention has the advantages that the charge-
discharge polarization is obviously reduced, and the
discharge rate capability is improved. According to the battery using the additive provided by the invention, a
primary battery is successfully converted into a secondary battery, and after 100 times of circulation, the cycle capacity
retention rate of the secondary battery is remarkable.