Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Anthraquinone-Mediated Fuel Cell Anode with an Off-Electrode Heterogeneous Catalyst Accessing High Power Density When Paired with a Mediated Cathode

Journal Article · · ACS Energy Letters

The development of processes for electrochemical energy conversion and chemical production could benefit from new strategies to interface chemical redox reactions with electrodes. Here, we employ a diffusible low-potential organic redox mediator, 9,10- anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonic acid (AQDS), to promote efficient electrochemical oxidation of H2 at an off-electrode heterogeneous catalyst. This unique approach to integrate chemical and electrochemical redox processes accesses power densities up to 228 mW/cm2 (528 mW/cm2 with iR-correction). These values are significantly higher than those observed in previous mediated electrochemical H2 oxidation methods, including those using enzymes or inorganic mediators. The approach described herein shows how traditional catalytic chemistry can be coupled to electrochemical devices. Financial support for this project was provided by the Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. Supplemental funds from the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) through the WARF Accelerator Program provided partial support for YP and CWA. NMR spectroscopy facilities were partially supported by the NSF (CHE-1048642) and the NIH (S10 OD012245).

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Molecular Electrocatalysis (CME); Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1700525
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-150887
Journal Information:
ACS Energy Letters, Journal Name: ACS Energy Letters Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 2020
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (53)

Quinones in Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis and Catalytic Aerobic Oxidation Reactions book August 2016
Anthraquinone Derivatives in Aqueous Flow Batteries journal December 2016
Indirect Electroorganic Syntheses—A Modern Chapter of Organic Electrochemistry[New Synthetic Methods(59)] journal August 1986
Catalytic Oxidation of Organic Substrates by Molecular Oxygen and Hydrogen Peroxide by Multistep Electron Transfer—A Biomimetic Approach journal April 2008
Aerobic Oxidation of Hydroquinone Derivatives Catalyzed by Polymer-Incarcerated Platinum Catalyst journal October 2008
High-Performance Liquid-Catalyst Fuel Cell for Direct Biomass-into-Electricity Conversion journal October 2014
A Redox Hydrogel Protects the O 2 -Sensitive [FeFe]-Hydrogenase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii from Oxidative Damage journal June 2015
Quinone-Catalyzed Selective Oxidation of Organic Molecules journal November 2015
Redox-Flow Batteries: From Metals to Organic Redox-Active Materials journal November 2016
Integrated Photoelectrochemical Solar Energy Conversion and Organic Redox Flow Battery Devices journal October 2016
Bioelectrochemical Haber-Bosch Process: An Ammonia-Producing H 2 /N 2 Fuel Cell journal February 2017
On the Mechanism of the Cathodic Reduction of Anthraquinone to Anthrone journal January 1987
Kinetic limitations of a bioelectrochemical electrode using carbon nanotube-attached glucose oxidase for biofuel cells journal December 2009
Aerobic Oxidation of Phenols and Related Compounds using Carbon Nanotube-Gold Nanohybrid Catalysts journal February 2014
Biofuel Cells for Biomedical Applications: Colonizing the Animal Kingdom journal March 2013
Efficient Conversion of Lignin to Electricity Using a Novel Direct Biomass Fuel Cell Mediated by Polyoxometalates at Low Temperatures journal December 2015
Direct Conversion of Wheat Straw into Electricity with a Biomass Flow Fuel Cell Mediated by Two Redox Ion Pairs journal December 2016
A review on methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cells: challenges and achievements: Methanol crossover in direct methanol fuel cells journal July 2011
An overview of unsolved deficiencies of direct methanol fuel cell technology: factors and parameters affecting its widespread use: Unsolved deficiencies of direct methanol fuel cells journal February 2014
Use of nonimmobilized enzymes and mediators achieved high power densities in closed biobatteries journal September 2015
Catalytic hydrogenation of quinones in the presence of Pt, Pd, and Rh catalysts
  • Khidekel', M. L.; Polkovnikov, B. D.; Taber, A. M.
  • Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences, USSR Division of Chemical Science, Vol. 14, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00846618
journal March 1965
Chemically regenerative redox fuel cells II. Regeneration reaction studies journal November 1990
A chemically regenerative redox fuel cell. II journal July 1985
Chemically regenerative redox fuel cells journal January 1982
A methanol/dioxygen biofuel cell that uses NAD+-dependent dehydrogenases as catalysts: application of an electro-enzymatic method to regenerate nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide at low overpotentials journal February 1998
Enzymatic biofuel cells: 30 years of critical advancements journal February 2016
Decoupling Strategies in Electrochemical Water Splitting and Beyond journal August 2018
Alkaline Quinone Flow Battery with Long Lifetime at pH 12 journal September 2018
Quinone-Mediated Electrochemical O2 Reduction Accessing High Power Density with an Off-Electrode Co-N/C Catalyst journal December 2018
Polyoxymetalate liquid-catalyzed polyol fuel cell and the related photoelectrochemical reaction mechanism study journal June 2016
Performance comparison of protonic and sodium phosphomolybdovanadate polyoxoanion catholytes within a chemically regenerative redox cathode polymer electrolyte fuel cell journal January 2018
The applications and prospect of fuel cells in medical field: A review journal January 2017
O 2 Reduction in Enzymatic Biofuel Cells journal September 2017
Mediated Fuel Cells: Soluble Redox Mediators and Their Applications to Electrochemical Reduction of O 2 and Oxidation of H 2 , Alcohols, Biomass, and Complex Fuels journal March 2020
Redox-Mediated ORR and OER Reactions: Redox Flow Lithium Oxygen Batteries Enabled with a Pair of Soluble Redox Catalysts journal August 2016
A Viewpoint on Heterogeneous Electrocatalysis and Redox Mediation in Nonaqueous Li-O 2 Batteries journal December 2016
Materials and Systems for Organic Redox Flow Batteries: Status and Challenges journal August 2017
Status and Prospects of Organic Redox Flow Batteries toward Sustainable Energy Storage journal August 2019
Flow Batteries: Current Status and Trends journal September 2015
Hydrogenation of Quinone with Palladium and Platinum Catalysts journal May 1940
A Bio-Inspired, Small Molecule Electron-Coupled-Proton Buffer for Decoupling the Half-Reactions of Electrolytic Water Splitting journal September 2013
A metal-free organic–inorganic aqueous flow battery journal January 2014
A redox hydrogel protects hydrogenase from high-potential deactivation and oxygen damage journal August 2014
Integrating a dual-silicon photoelectrochemical cell into a redox flow battery for unassisted photocharging journal May 2016
Mild and selective catalytic oxidation of organic substrates by a carbon nanotube-rhodium nanohybrid journal January 2015
Rational design of quinones for high power density biofuel cells journal January 2015
A practical, organic-mediated, hybrid electrolyser that decouples hydrogen production at high current densities journal January 2018
Bioelectrocatalysis-based dihydrogen/dioxygen fuel cell operating at physiological pH journal January 2001
Redox catalysis in organic electrosynthesis: basic principles and recent developments journal January 2014
Mediator oxidation systems in organic electrosynthesis journal February 2009
A Quinone-Bromide Flow Battery with 1 W/cm2 Power Density journal July 2015
A New Michael-Reaction-Resistant Benzoquinone for Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries journal January 2017
Acid Catalyzed Disproportionation of Anthrahydroquinone to Anthraquinone and Anthrone journal January 1994

Similar Records

Comparison of Quinone-Based Catholytes for Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries and Demonstration of Long-Term Stability with Tetrasubstituted Quinones
Journal Article · Tue May 26 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Advanced Energy Materials · OSTI ID:1706729

Efficient electrochemical synthesis of robust, densely functionalized water soluble quinones
Journal Article · Fri Jan 24 23:00:00 EST 2020 · Chemical Communications · OSTI ID:1728686

Anthraquinone Derivatives in Aqueous Flow Batteries
Journal Article · Tue Dec 13 23:00:00 EST 2016 · Advanced Energy Materials · OSTI ID:1533067

Related Subjects