Flow batteries utilizing aqueous quinone/hydroquinone redox chemistry can significantly reduce the cost of electrical energy storage for grid-scale applications. In addition, the performance of the battery can be improved through the addition of electron-donating hydroxide and water-solubilizing sulfonic acid functional groups, which improve the reduction potential and solubility of the quinone. The performance of several quinone-based flow batteries is described along with the kinetics of quinone reduction, which is orders of magnitude faster than metal-based redox chemistry. To explain this difference, a quinone containing intramolecular hydrogen bonding is used to study the mechanism 2 H+ / 2 e� reduction in quinones.

Quinone electrochemistry for flow battery applications

248th National Meeting (2014)

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