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Radical Compatibility with Nonaqueous Electrolytes and Its Impact on an All‐Organic Redox Flow Battery
Author(s) -
Wei Xiaoliang,
Xu Wu,
Huang Jinhua,
Zhang Lu,
Walter Eric,
Lawrence Chad,
Vijayakumar M.,
Henderson Wesley A.,
Liu Tianbiao,
Cosimbescu Lelia,
Li Bin,
Sprenkle Vincent,
Wang Wei
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
angewandte chemie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1521-3757
pISSN - 0044-8249
DOI - 10.1002/ange.201501443
Subject(s) - redox , flow battery , electrolyte , chemistry , chemical engineering , degradation (telecommunications) , battery (electricity) , organic radical battery , inorganic chemistry , electrode , computer science , thermodynamics , telecommunications , engineering , power (physics) , physics
Nonaqueous redox flow batteries hold the promise of achieving higher energy density because of the broader voltage window than aqueous systems, but their current performance is limited by low redox material concentration, cell efficiency, cycling stability, and current density. We report a new nonaqueous all‐organic flow battery based on high concentrations of redox materials, which shows significant, comprehensive improvement in flow battery performance. A mechanistic electron spin resonance study reveals that the choice of supporting electrolytes greatly affects the chemical stability of the charged radical species especially the negative side radical anion, which dominates the cycling stability of these flow cells. This finding not only increases our fundamental understanding of performance degradation in flow batteries using radical‐based redox species, but also offers insights toward rational electrolyte optimization for improving the cycling stability of these flow batteries.