Understanding Aqueous Electrolyte Stability through Combined Computational and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: A Case Study on Vanadium Redox Flow Battery Electrolytes

Journal Article · Sun Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 2015 · ChemPlusChem, 80(2):428-437

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/cplu.201402139· OSTI ID:1170050

Vijayakumar, M.; Nie, Zimin; Walter, Eric D.; Hu, Jian Z.; Liu, Jun; Sprenkle, Vincent L.; Wang, Wei

Redox flow battery (RFB) is a promising candidate for energy storage component in designing resilient grid scale power supply due to the advantage of the separation of power and energy. However, poorly understood chemical and thermal stability issues of electrolytes currently limit the performance of RFB. Designing of high performance stable electrolytes requires comprehensive knowledge about the molecular level solvation structure and dynamics of their redox active species. The molecular level understanding of detrimental V2O5 precipitation process led to successful designing of mixed acid based electrolytes for vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB). The higher stability of mixed acid based electrolytes is attributed to the choice of hydrochloric acid as optimal co-solvent, which provides chloride anions for ligand exchange process in vanadium solvation structure. The role of chloride counter anion on solvation structure and dynamics of vanadium species were studied using combined magnetic resonance spectroscopy and DFT based theoretical methods. Finally, the solvation phenomenon of multiple vanadium species and their impact on VRFB electrolyte chemical stability were discussed.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1170050
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-102555; 44591; TE1400000
• Journal Information: ChemPlusChem, 80(2):428-437, Journal Name: ChemPlusChem, 80(2):428-437
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Comprehensive Solvation Chemistry
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
Vanadium Redox Flow Battery