Development of Anolyte Materials for All-Organic Redox Flow Batteries

Energy storage systems for solar and wind power are expected to play a central role in addressing the global energy crisis and climate change concerns. Among the various strategies deployed, redox flow batteries (RFBs) are regarded as one of the most promising technologies for integration of intermittent and capricious energy resources. Unlike the traditional secondary batteries, the energy and power of RFBs are decoupled which offers remarkable flexibility as both of them can be independently scaled for different applications by controlling the size of the storage tank and/or the cell stack. Material development of redox active molecules, especially redox active organic molecules is crucial to enable the extensive deployment of this energy storage technology. Unlike the catholyte (high potential) materials that have been extensively investigated, the anolyte (low potential) molecules are still less tapped. In this presentation, our approach to the development of aromatic heterocycle based anolyte materials will be reported. The radical anion generation, the supporting electrolyte effect on the ion-pairing of the radical anion and its corresponding stability, as well as its coupling with catholyte material for an all-organic redox flow battery will be covered.