It is a white powder that is used as an electrolyte in nonaqueous electrochemistry.

It is highly soluble in polar organic solvents such as acetone and acetonitrile.

The salt consists of a positively charged tetrabutylammonium, a quaternary ammonia cation and a weakly basic hexafluorophosphate anion.

These species are chemically inert, which allows the salt to serve as an inert electrolyte over a wide potential range.

Given the sensitivity of electrochemical experiments, this salt is usually further purified, e.g., by recrystallization from aqueous or absolute ethanol.