An electrolyte is any substance containing free ions that make the substance electrically conductive.
The most typical electrolyte is an ionic solution, but molten electrolytes and solid electrolytes are also possible.
Electrolyte solutions are normally formed when a salt is placed into a solvent such as water and the individual components dissociate due to the thermodynamic interactions between solvent and solute molecules, in a process called solvation. For example, when table salt, NaCl, is placed in water, the salt (a solid) dissolves into its component elements, according to the dissociation reaction
- NaCl(s) ? Na+(aq) + Cl-(aq)