Solvents and supporting electrolytes for vanadium acetylacetonate flow batteries

Properties of supporting electrolytes and solvents were examined for use with vanadium acetylacetonate - a member of the class of metal(beta-diketonate) active species - in non-aqueous redox flow batteries. Twenty supporting-electrolyte/solvent combinations were screened for ionic conductivity and supporting-electrolyte solubility. Hexane, tetrahydrofuran, and dimethylcarbonate solvents did not meet minimal conductivity and solubility criteria for any of the electrolytes used, which included tetraethylammonium tetrafluoroborate, tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate, tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate, and (1-butyl, 3-methyl)imidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide. Ionic conductivities and solubilities for solutions of these electrolytes passed screening criteria in acetonitrile and dimethylformamide solvents, in which maximum supporting-electrolyte and active-species solubilities were determined. Active-species electrochemistry was found to be reversible in several solvent/support systems; for some systems the voltammetric signatures of unwanted side reactions were suppressed. Correlations between supporting-solution properties and performance metrics suggest that an optimal solvent for a vanadium acetylacetonate RFB should have a low solvent molar volume for active-species solubility, and a high Hansen polarity for conductivity. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.