Electrolyte engineering methods and systems

A method of forming an electrochemical system, the method comprising:

• creating a housing with an interior volume;
• placing at least one electrode within the interior volume;
• adding, into the interior volume, at least one chelating agent configured to bind to at least one detrimental ionic species;
• adding a preload to the interior volume, wherein the preload consists of gibbsite and is configured to act as a precipitation-inducing site;
• and
• adding a particulate precipitation site to the interior volume, wherein the particulate precipitation site is capable of at least partial dissolution in an aqueous electrolyte, and wherein the particulate precipitation site is configured to act as a precipitation collection site.