Michael Aziz, Harvard University - Organic-Based Aqueous Flow Batteries

ABSTRACT
The ability to store large amounts of electrical energy is of increasing importance with the growing fraction of electricity generation from intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar. Solid-electrode batteries are drained far too soon, when discharged at full power, to economically fill the gaps in photovoltaic or wind temporal power profiles. Flow batteries show promise because the designer can independently scale the power (electrode area) and energy (arbitrarily large storage volume) components of the system by maintaining all electro-active species in fluids. Wide-scale utilization of flow batteries is limited by the abundance and cost of these materials, particularly those utilizing redox-active metals and precious metal electrocatalysts. We have developed a flow battery based on the aqueous redox chemistry of small organic molecules called quinones. The redox active materials contain no metals and can be very inexpensive. Electrochemical studies show that these molecules undergo fast and reversible two-electron two-proton reduction on carbon electrodes without the addition of electrocatalyst. An aqueous flow battery involving the quinone/hydroquinone couple has achieved a peak power density exceeding 0.6 W/cm2 and has undergone over 700 deep discharge cycles with over 99.9% capacity retention per cycle. The absence of active metal components in both redox chemistry and catalysis represents a significant shift away from the direction modern battery R&D has been taking. This new approach may enable massive electrical energy storage at greatly reduced cost.

[@tylerpeterson4726]

A note to the videographer. As much as Dr. Aziz is pretty to look at, we want to be able to look at his graphs and absorb the information. Unless he has stopped talking about anything on the slide or is doing something that we want to see up close, please just leave the view on the projection.

[@ilvikakandhway6072]

The slides are available here- acee.princeton.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Aziz-Princeton-Slides-2014-10-20-Organic-Based-Aqueous-Flow-Batteries-for-Massive-Electrical-Energy-Storage.pdf

[@AndlingerCenter]

Thanks for the feedback!

[@specks084]

This is absolutely brilliant!!! Green renewable energy can only go as far as storage of would allow. Efficient and non volatile material usage is such a great frontier to explore in energy.

[@Dana5775]

If you are already aware of the renewable issues skip to 20:00 .

[@halasimov1362]

Let's just take this energy from the sun and set it over in a barrel for years without loss. The future Rocks! The future Redox!!

[@siriurtz]

Food for thought... Detroit has a 1500 hectre abandoned salt mine underneath it? Germans are currently doing something similar called "brine4power" using abandoned salt mines as battsrries

[@handleismyhandle]

Working on my own aluminum battery made with deep eutectic solvent, and had a hunch that maybe a manzanita extract would help the electrolyte. . . Turns out that arbutin is a quinone, and here I am. Very strange. I imagine there are a vast number of energy products that can be taken from nature, just as we are learning about the incredible mechanical properties of nanocellulose and nanochitin-iron composites.

[@handleismyhandle]

+Blitherer Masterman Energy science from plants is a wide open field near as I can tell. Lots of room for all to experiment.

[@armwrestlingprofessor]

Not a fan of the DES style electrolytes. They may be cheap but they're 1/10th the conductivity of the best true ILs (~1 vs ~10 mS/cm) due to the high electron density on the oxygen causing more sticky H bonding. There are also now cheap organic salts that seem to do the job comparably to EMImCl at a much lower cost such as Et3NHCl, or guanidinium chloride

[@jimbrenno897]

Simple terms just like a swimming pool the pH is either high or low a high pH will create electricity simple

[@hannibalcosta]

Battery, Aziz!

[@Garganzuul]

Half the audience knowing what something is does not make your job easier... Unless you're willing to lose half your audience. =\

[@bengrizzlyadams6187]

Chilling how lightly you all taking the fact that the President is so clueless about one of the most interesting technological advance of this century. How is this guy going to command the armed forces he could not command his own sphincter!