Aqueous redox flow batteries: small organic molecules for the positive electrolyte species
Author(s)
Cannon, Christopher G
Klusener, Peter AA
Brandon, Nigel P
Kucernak, Anthony
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
There are a number of critical requirements for electrolytes in aqueous redox flow batteries. This paper reviews organic molecules that have been used as the redox-active electrolyte for the positive cell reaction in aqueous redox flow batteries. These organic compounds are centred around different organic redox active moieties such as the aminoxyl radical (TEMPO and N-hydroxyphthalimide), carbonyl (quinones and biphenols), amine (e.g indigo carmine), ether and thioether (e.g. thianthrene) groups. We consider the key metrics that can be used to assess their performance: redox potential, solubility, redox kinetics, diffusivity, operating pH, stability, and cost. We develop a new figure of merit - the theoretical intrinsic power density - which combines the first four of the aforementioned metrics to allow ranking of different redox couples on just one side of the battery. The organic electrolytes show theoretical intrinsic power densities which are 2-100 times larger than that of the VO2+/VO2+ couple, with TEMPO-derivatives showing the highest performance. Finally, we survey organic positive electrolytes in the literature on the basis of their redox-active moieties and the aforementioned figure of merit.
Date Issued
2023-09-22
Date Acceptance
2023-05-19
Citation
ChemSusChem: chemistry and sustainability, energy and materials, 2023, 16 (18)
ISSN
1864-5631
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
ChemSusChem: chemistry and sustainability, energy and materials
Volume
16
Issue
18
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Authors. ChemSusChem published by Wiley-VCH GmbH
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37205628
Subjects
Energy Conversion, Electrochemistry, Redox Flow Batteries, Electrolytes, Energy Storage
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
Germany
Article Number
ARTN e202300303
Date Publish Online
2023-05-19