High-Performance Aqueous Redox Flow Battery Using Non-Toxic Organic-Inorganic Electrolyte

The use of quinone/hydroquinone couples in aqueous redox flow batteries  is a promising pathway toward cost-effective stationary electrical energy storage.[1]-[3] Remaining challenges, such as membrane crossover of undesired species, molecule stability, and cost of containment for toxic and corrosive electrolytes, are the subject of active research. Here we report a novel quinone-based aqueous redox flow battery employing inexpensive, stable and non-toxic electrolyte materials.  The open circuit voltage is over 1.2 V, the peak galvanic power density exceeds 0.35 W/cm², the membrane crossover rate is orders of magnitude lower than with inorganic redox couples, and capacity fade is less than 0.1% per cycle.

[1] B. Huskinson, M.P. Marshak, C. Suh, S. Er, M.R. Gerhardt, C.J. Galvin, X. Chen, A. Aspuru-Guzik, R.G. Gordon and M.J. Aziz, “A metal-free organic-inorganic aqueous flow battery”, Nature 505, 195 (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature12909

[2] B. Huskinson, M.P. Marshak, M.R. Gerhardt and M.J. Aziz, “Cycling of a quinone-bromide flow battery for large-scale electrochemical energy storage”, ECS Trans. 61, 27 (2014)

[3]  B. Yang, L. Hoober-Burkhardt, F. Wang, G.K. Surya Prakash, and S.R. Narayanan, J. Electrochem. Soc. 161, A1371 (2014).