Identifying and preventing degradation in flavin mononucleotide-based redox flow batteries via NMR and EPR spectroscopy

Dominic Hey, Rajesh B. Jethwa, Nadia L. Farag, Bernardine L. D. Rinkel, Evan Wenbo Zhao and Clare P. Grey ()
Additional contact information
Dominic Hey: University of Cambridge
Rajesh B. Jethwa: University of Cambridge
Nadia L. Farag: University of Cambridge
Bernardine L. D. Rinkel: University of Cambridge
Evan Wenbo Zhao: University of Cambridge
Clare P. Grey: University of Cambridge

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract While aqueous organic redox flow batteries (RFBs) represent potential solutions to large-scale grid storage, their electrolytes suffer from short lifetimes due to rapid degradation. We show how an understanding of these degradation processes can be used to dramatically improve performance, as illustrated here via a detailed study of the redox-active biomolecule, flavin mononucleotide (FMN), a molecule readily derived from vitamin B2. Via in-situ nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) we identify FMN hydrolysis products and show that these give rise to the additional plateau seen during charging of an FMN-cyanoferrate battery. The redox reactions of the hydrolysis product are not reversible, but we demonstrate that capacity is still retained even after substantial hydrolysis, albeit with reduced voltaic efficiency, FMN acting as a redox mediator. Critically, we demonstrate that degradation is mitigated and battery efficiency is substantially improved by lowering the pH to 11. Furthermore, the addition of cheap electrolyte salts to tune the pH results in a dramatic increase in solubility (above 1 M), this systematic improvement of the flavin-based system bringing RFBs one step closer to commercial viability.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-40649-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-40649-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40649-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().