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Title: Experimental Protocols for Studying Organic Non-aqueous Redox Flow Batteries

Journal Article · · ACS Energy Letters
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [1]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [5];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States)
  2. Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States); Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States)
  3. Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States)
  4. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States)
  5. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States); Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL (United States)

We report that Redox flow batteries (RFBs) are promising devices for grid-scale energy storage due to the decoupling of power and energy, which can be independently scaled by the electrode area and storage tank size, respectively. To date, only aqueous RFBs, such as the vanadium RFB, have been implemented commercially. Nevertheless, the limited energy densities and high-cost materials may preclude their wider market penetration. Organic non-aqueous redox-flow batteries (O-NRFBs), which utilize redox-active organic molecules (ROMs), have been offered as an attractive alternative. Many possible advantages include the use of earth-abundant elements (C, H, N, O, S, F), wherein the ROMs can be prepared from low-cost and sustainable materials. Additionally, a large variety of electroactive moieties are accessible as building blocks, providing a synthetic platform to tune the properties of ROMs through rational design. As a consequence, the development of novel ROMs has attracted researchers with diverse backgrounds, prompting remarkable innovations in the past decade. However, consistency in experimental protocols (e.g., electrochemical methods, cycling stability, experimental conditions) has not coincided with this uptick in research, leading to sometimes ambiguous and incomparable results. This is further convoluted by the complexity innate to battery development, such as cell design, detection, and characterization of reactions and active components. The O-NRFB application imposes stringent requirements on the physical or/and chemical processes involved in electrochemical cycling. Yet such considerations are often overlooked. Further, while quantum mechanical calculations provide a convenient tool for evaluating and selecting ROM candidates, this simulation is not always performed. Thus, in this Energy Focus, we detail a means to standardize experimental protocols for studies of O-NRFBs and suggest practices to facilitate fundamental understanding and development of ROMs.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1846591
Journal Information:
ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 6, Issue 11; ISSN 2380-8195
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Figures / Tables (9)