A Long-Lifetime All-Organic Aqueous Flow Battery Utilizing TMAP-TEMPO Radical

Abstract

The massive-scale integration of renewable electricity into the power grid is impeded by its intrinsic intermittency. The aqueous organic redox flow battery (AORFB) rises as a potential storage solution; however, the choice of positive electrolytes is limited, and the aqueous-soluble organic positive redox-active species reported to date have short lifetimes. Here we report a stable organic molecule for the positive terminal, 4-[3-(trimethylammonio)propoxy]-2,2,6,6- tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TMAP-TEMPO) chloride, exhibiting high (4.62 M) aqueous solubility. When operated in a practical AORFB against a negative electrolyte comprising BTMAP-viologen at neutral pH, the flow cell displayed an open-circuit voltage of 1.1 Volts and a coulombic efficiency of >99.73%. The capacity retention rate is among the highest of all-organic AORFBs reported to date, at 99.993% per cycle over 1000 consecutive cycles; the temporal capacity fade rate of 0.026% per hour is independent of concentration.