F. Hasan, R. Poirier, T. Anderson, C. Bejger
University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
United States
Keywords: flow battery, non-aqueous
Summary:
Radialenes are cross-conjugated organic molecules with a propensity for multielectron electrochemistry. Specifically, cyano and ester-substituted [3]radialenes can be isolated as dianions that undergo two-reversible single electron oxidations to yield radical anion and neutral species, respectively. The first redox process has been exploited by our group to prepare catholytes for aqueous redox flow batteries (RFBs). However, the second oxidation to the neutral radialene is not reversible in water. Here, we present our work investigating this second oxidation process of [3]radialene compounds in non-aqueous flow battery applications. Several two-electron anolytes were coupled with the radialene compounds to prepare 2.5V RFBs. Bulk electrolysis and flow cell cycling studies will be discussed.