Author ORCID Identifier

Desiree Mae Prado

Clemens Burda

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 8-25-2023

Abstract

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) have recently attracted much attention as potential green electrolyte solvents for redox flow batteries. DESs are considered not only as environmentally sustainable but also economically attractive electrolytes because they can be resourced from biological feedstock (alcohols, urea, choline) and are earth-abundant and of low toxicity. Despite these advantages, DESs still have limitations in important aspects such as reactant and ion transport, which is inhibited due to hydrogen-bonding-induced viscosity. Thus, improving the transport properties of redox species in DESs is essential. In addition, we explore the quantitative addition of water to ethaline (a 1:2 choline chloride: ethylene glycol mixture) in order to understand its influence on the kinetics and mass transport properties of DESs. In this work, we show that DESs can be made more fluid and less dense, while avoiding most of the electrochemical instabilities of water. Herein, we investigate the effects of gradually increasing amounts of water to the redox system of Fe2+/3+in ethaline. Our study shows that systematic addition of water leads to a three-fold increase in ionic conductivity and decrease in viscosity that enhances the mass transport and kinetics of DES-based electrolytes while still maintaining an electrochemical window of approximately 1.90 V. The use of environmentally benign electrolyte components together with the observed increase in conductivity will result in a more efficient redox flow battery (RFB) that operates at higher power density without relying on harmful solvents and fossil fuel-based processes.

Keywords

Deep eutectic solvent, Redox flow battery, Hydrodynamic voltammetry, Redox couple, Renewable energy

Publication Title

Electrochimica Acta

Rights

© 2023 published by Elsevier. This manuscript is made available under the Elsevier user license https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/

Comments

This is a peer reviewed Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Elsevier in Electrochimica Acta, available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2023.143082

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