Utah State University chemists' efforts to develop alternative battery technology solutions are advancing and recent findings are highlighted in a renowned, international chemistry journal.

Tianbiao Liu, assistant professor in USU's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and his team reported a new molecular design for aqueous organic redox flow batteries, known as AORFBs, in the Jan. 2, 2018, issue of Angewandte Chemie, in which their paper is honored as a cover feature.

In addition to Liu, the paper's authors are USU postdoctoral researcher Jian Luo and doctoral students Bo Hu and Camden DeBruler.

"Organic redox flow batteries show promise for large-scale storage of renewable energy, as redox-active organic molecules are synthetically tunable, sustainable and inexpensive," Liu says.

"We think they're a great alternative to existing technologies to meet growing demand for battery storage of environmentally friendly, renewable energy resources such as solar and wind power."

Such renewable energy sources present challenges to use, he says, because of their intermittent availability, unstable, heavy cycling and grid energy demands. These sources require frequent changing and discharging, as well as irregular, full recharging of a robust battery.

In their paper, team members describe use of synthetic chemistry to design a molecule, featuring a pi-electron conjugation unit, as a novel, two-electron storage anolyte for neutral total organic AORFBs.

"The two-electron structure is a unique feature of this design," Liu says. "It enables total use of organic materials based on abundantly available elements, such as nitrogen and hydrogen.

The chemists' demonstrated battery delivered a high voltage of 1.44 volts in an aqueous electrolyte, along with impressive energy efficiency and capacity retention.

"The design is very robust and very stable," Liu says.

Observing a long-time tradition of Angewandte Chemie, Liu dedicated the paper to his master's mentor, Professor Mei Wang of China's Dalian University of Technology, on the occasion of her 62nd birthday.

"Dr. Wang is among the leaders in the field of renewable energy chemistry and was an inspiration to me," he says.

Research paper

Related Links
Utah State University
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

A new way to find better battery materials
Boston MA (SPX) Mar 30, 2018
A new approach to analyzing and designing new ion conductors - a key component of rechargeable batteries - could accelerate the development of high-energy lithium batteries, and possibly other energy storage and delivery devices such as fuel cells, researchers say. The new approach relies on understanding the way vibrations move through the crystal lattice of lithium ion conductors and correlating that with the way they inhibit ion migration. This provides a way to discover new materials with enha ... read more