Mediating anion-cation interactions to improve aqueous flow battery electrolytes AITranslate

Basic Information:

DOI：https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmt.2022.101512

Chinese Library Classification Number:

Citation Information:

The limited solubility of electrolyte active materials has impeded the development of energy dense aqueous redox flow batteries. Here, we report on the solubilizing effect urea has on metal-organic complexes chelated by aminopolycarboxylate ligands. Upon addition of urea, solubility enhancements of up to 60% or 125% are observed for chromium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (CrEDTA) and chromium 1,3-propylenediaminetetraacetate (CrPDTA) salts, respectively, resulting in maximum solubilities of e.g., 1.5 м for KCrPDTA and 2.2 м for NaCrEDTA. We investigate the mechanism behind enhanced solubility of aminopolycarboxylate chelates, revealing strong hydrogen bonding between urea and anions, resulting in eutectic-like destabilization of the solid phase. We study the impact of urea on the electrochemical performance of near neutral pH flow batteries and demonstrate 50% higher anolyte capacities, up to 40 Ah L−1, than previously reported for this promising class of materials. In capacity balanced full cells, using ferrocyanide catholytes, we observe excellent Coulombic efficiencies >99.6% and voltage efficiencies >78% at average discharge voltages of ca. 1.5 V when cycling at 100 mA cm−2. Peak discharge power densities of >400 mW cm−2 further highlight the potential of our facile and cost-effective approach. Finally, we discuss avenues for future work to further exploit the solubilizing effect described herein. Graphical abstract Download : Download high-res image (61KB) Download : Download full-size image