Perspective on Lewis Acid-Base Interactions in Emerging Batteries.

Lewis acid-base interactions are common in chemical processes presented in diverse applications, such as synthesis, catalysis, batteries, semiconductors, and solar cells. The Lewis acid-base interactions allow precise tuning of material properties from the molecular level to more aggregated and organized structures. This review will focus on the origin, development, and prospects of applying Lewis acid-base interactions for the materials design and mechanism understanding in the advancement of battery materials and chemistries. The covered topics relate to aqueous batteries, lithium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries, alkali metal-sulfur batteries, and alkali metal-oxygen batteries. In this review, the Lewis acid-base theories will be first introduced. Thereafter the application strategies for Lewis acid-base interactions in solid-state and liquid-based batteries will be introduced from the aspects of liquid electrolyte, solid polymer electrolyte, metal anodes, and high-capacity cathodes. The underlying mechanism is highlighted in regard to ion transport, electrochemical stability, mechanical property, reaction kinetics, dendrite growth, corrosion, and so on. Last but not least, perspectives on the future directions related to Lewis acid-base interactions for next-generation batteries are like to be shared.

Vanadium Electrolyte Studies for the Vanadium Redox Battery-A Review.

The electrolyte is one of the most important components of the vanadium redox flow battery and its properties will affect cell performance and behavior in addition to the overall battery cost. Vanadium exists in several oxidation states with significantly different half-cell potentials that can produce practical cell voltages. It is thus possible to use the same element in both half-cells and thereby eliminate problems of cross-contamination inherent in all other flow battery chemistries. Electrolyte properties vary with supporting electrolyte composition, state-of-charge, and temperature and this will impact on the characteristics, behavior, and performance of the vanadium battery in practical applications. This Review provides a broad overview of the physical properties and characteristics of the vanadium battery electrolyte under different conditions, together with a description of some of the processing methods that have been developed to produce vanadium electrolytes for vanadium redox flow battery applications.

Superior Electrocatalytic Activity of a Robust Carbon-Felt Electrode with Oxygen-Rich Phosphate Groups for All-Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.

A newly prepared type of carbon felt with oxygen-rich phosphate groups is proposed as a promising electrode with good stability for all-vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). Through direct surface modification with ammonium hexafluorophosphate (NH4 PF6 ), phosphorus can be successfully incorporated onto the surface of the carbon felt by forming phosphate functional groups with -OH chemical moieties that exhibit good hydrophilicity. The electrochemical reactivity of the carbon felt toward the redox reactions of VO(2+) /VO2 (+) (in the catholyte) and V(3+) /V(2+) (in the anolyte) can be effectively improved owing to the superior catalytic effects of the oxygen-rich phosphate groups. Furthermore, undesirable hydrogen evolution can be suppressed by minimizing the overpotential for the V(3+) /V(2+) redox reaction in the anolyte of the VRFB. Cell-cycling tests with the catalyzed electrodes show improved energy efficiencies of 88.2 and 87.2 % in the 1(st) and 20(th)  cycles compared with 83.0 and 81.1 %, respectively, for the pristine electrodes at a constant current density of 32 mA cm(-2) . These improvements are mainly attributed to the faster charge transfer allowed by the integration of the oxygen-rich phosphate groups on the carbon-felt electrode.

Membranes for redox flow battery applications.

The need for large scale energy storage has become a priority to integrate renewable energy sources into the electricity grid. Redox flow batteries are considered the best option to store electricity from medium to large scale applications. However, the current high cost of redox flow batteries impedes the wide spread adoption of this technology. The membrane is a critical component of redox flow batteries as it determines the performance as well as the economic viability of the batteries. The membrane acts as a separator to prevent cross-mixing of the positive and negative electrolytes, while still allowing the transport of ions to complete the circuit during the passage of current. An ideal membrane should have high ionic conductivity, low water intake and excellent chemical and thermal stability as well as good ionic exchange capacity. Developing a low cost, chemically stable membrane for redox flow cell batteries has been a major focus for many groups around the world in recent years. This paper reviews the research work on membranes for redox flow batteries, in particular for the all-vanadium redox flow battery which has received the most attention.