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Nawar, Saraf

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Nawar

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Saraf

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Nawar, Saraf

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Author's Publications: search.filters.isAuthorOfPublication.84475ced-e11a-4698-8595-8cf5073b0015

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    Novel Quinone-Based Couples for Flow Batteries
    (The Electrochemical Society, 2013) Huskinson, Brian Thomas; Nawar, Saraf; Gerhardt, Michael; Aziz, Michael
    Flow batteries are of interest for low-cost grid-scale electrical energy storage in the face of rising electricity production from intermittent renewables like wind and solar. We report on investigations of redox couples based on the reversible protonation of small organic molecules called quinones. These molecules can be very inexpensive and may therefore offer a low cost per kWh of electrical energy storage. Furthermore they are known to rapidly undergo oxidation and reduction with high reversibility under some conditions, suggesting the possibility of high current density operation, which could lead to low cost per kW. We report cyclic voltammetry measurements for 1,4-parabenzoquinone in neutral pH aqueous solution using a three-electrode setup. We report full fuel cell measurements as well, utilizing p-benzoquinone in an acidic solution as a positive electrode material and a hydrogen negative electrode, where current densities in excess of 240 mA \(cm^{-2}\) have been achieved to date. These initial results indicate that the quinone/hydroquinone redox couple is a promising candidate for use in redox flow batteries.
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    Benzoquinone-Hydroquinone Couple for Flow Battery
    (Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2013) Nawar, Saraf; Huskinson, Brian Thomas; Aziz, Michael
    At present, there is an ongoing search for approaches toward the storage of energy from intermittent renewable sources like wind and solar. Flow batteries have gained attention due to their potential viability for inexpensive storage of large amounts of energy. While the quinone/hydroquinone redox couple is a widely studied redox pair, its application in energy storage has not been widely explored. Because of its high reversibility, low toxicity, and low component costs, we propose the quinone/hydroquinone redox couple as a viable candidate for use in a grid-scale storage device. We have performed single-electrode tests on several quinone/hydroquinone redox couples, achieving current densities exceeding 500 mA/cm2, which is acceptable for use in energy applications. We fabricated a full cell using para-benzoquinone at the positive electrode against a commercial fuel cell hydrogen electrode separated by a Nafion membrane. We evaluated its performance in galvanic mode, where it reached current densities as high as 150 mA/cm2. The results from these studies indicate that the quinone/hydroquinone redox couple is a promising candidate for use in redox flow batteries.