Modular dimerization of organic radicals for stable and dense flow battery catholyte

Xiu-Liang Lv, Patrick T. Sullivan, Wenjie Li (), Hui-Chun Fu, Ryan Jacobs, Chih-Jung Chen, Dane Morgan, Song Jin and Dawei Feng ()
Additional contact information
Xiu-Liang Lv: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Patrick T. Sullivan: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Wenjie Li: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Hui-Chun Fu: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Ryan Jacobs: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Chih-Jung Chen: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dane Morgan: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Song Jin: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dawei Feng: University of Wisconsin–Madison

Nature Energy, 2023, vol. 8, issue 10, 1109-1118

Abstract: Abstract Aqueous organic redox flow batteries (AORFBs) hold promise for safe, sustainable and cost-effective grid energy storage. However, developing catholyte redox molecules with the desired stability, power and energy density remains challenging. In this study, we synthesized a class of ionic liquid-mimicking (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin-1-yl)oxyl dimers (i-TEMPODs) through a building-block assembly platform. By systematically investigating 21 i-TEMPOD derivatives, we uncovered the optimal size and charge properties that prevent membrane crossover and allow formation of a water-in-salt state. Leveraging these advances, we realized substantial improvements in AORFB performance using the optimum i-TEMPOD catholyte at 2 M concentration. These enhancements encompass several crucial metrics showcased across multiple experiments, including robust cycling stability without apparent capacity decay during 96 days of cycling, facile electrochemical kinetics with a high maximum power density of 0.325 W m−2 and a high full-cell energy density of 47.3 Wh l−1 in a capacity-balanced configuration. These molecular designs pave the way towards low-cost and scalable AORFBs.

Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-023-01320-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:natene:v:8:y:2023:i:10:d:10.1038_s41560-023-01320-w

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41560-023-01320-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Energy is currently edited by Fouad Khan

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