DESIGN, SYNTHESIS, AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ORGANIC REDOX MATERIALS FOR AQUEOUS FLOW BATTERY

A redox flow battery (RFB) is a rechargeable device that features soluble electroactive materials are store separately from the reactor. With this flexible layout, power density and energy density are decoupled. However, commercial vanadium flow batteries are expensive due to the high cost of the electrolyte and membrane, preventing widespread adoption of this technology. Due to the acidic electrolyte, safety and severe corrosion is also a problem. In this work, I present the synthesis and characterization of organic compounds as low-cost anolyte materials for aqueous RFBs with neutral electrolytes. The organic redox materials were then synthesized with high solubility of up to 1.6 M in water. 50 stable cycles with 99.6% capacity retention and the coulombic efficiency higher than 99.7% were demonstrated. The theoretical energy density is projected to be as high as 44.86 Wh/L. This work paves the way for developing organic redox materials for low-cost aqueous RFBs.