An Extremely Stable, Highly Soluble Monosubstituted Anthraquinone for Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries

Abstract

An extremely stable, energy‐dense (53.6 Ah L<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>, 2 <jats:sc>m</jats:sc> transferrable electrons), low crossover (permeability of &lt;1 × 10<jats:sup>−13</jats:sup> cm<jats:sup>2</jats:sup> s<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> using Nafion 212 (Nafion is a trademark polymer from DuPont)), and potentially inexpensive anthraquinone with 2‐2‐propionate ether anthraquinone structure (abbreviated 2‐2PEAQ) is synthesized and extensively evaluated under practically relevant conditions for use in the negolyte of an aqueous redox flow battery. 2‐2PEAQ shows a high stability with a fade rate of 0.03–0.05% per day at different applied current densities, cut‐off voltage windows, and concentrations (0.1 and 1.0 <jats:sc>m</jats:sc>) in both a full cell paired with a ferro/ferricyanide posolyte as well as a symmetric cell. 2‐2PEAQ is further shown to have extreme long‐term stability, losing only ≈0.01% per day when an electrochemical rejuvenation strategy is employed. From post‐mortem analysis (nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC‐MS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV)) two degradation mechanisms are deduced: side chain loss and anthrone formation. 2‐2PEAQ with the ether linkages attached on carbons non‐adjacent to the central ring is found to have three times lower fade rate compared to its isomer with ether linkages on the carbon adjacent to the central quinone ring. The present study introduces a viable negolyte candidate for grid‐scale aqueous organic redox flow batteries.