A biomimetic redox flow battery based on flavin mononucleotide.

Akihiro Orita,Michael G Verde,Ying Shirley Meng,Masanori Sakai

doi:10.1038/ncomms13230

Akihiro Orita, Michael G Verde + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13230

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Abstract

The versatility in design of redox flow batteries makes them apt to efficiently store energy in large-scale applications at low cost. The discovery of inexpensive organic electroactive materials for use in aqueous flow battery electrolytes is highly attractive, but is thus far limited. Here we report on a flow battery using an aqueous electrolyte based on the sodium salt of flavin mononucleotide. Flavins are highly versatile electroactive molecules, which catalyse a multitude of redox reactions in biological systems. We use nicotinamide (vitamin B3) as a hydrotropic agent to enhance the water solubility of flavin mononucleotide. A redox flow battery using flavin mononucleotide negative and ferrocyanide positive electrolytes in strong base shows stable cycling performance, with over 99% capacity retention over the course of 100 cycles. We hypothesize that this is enabled due to the oxidized and reduced forms of FMN-Na being stabilized by resonance structures.

Highlights

The versatility in design of redox flow batteries makes them apt to efficiently store energy in large-scale applications at low cost
We propose that the superior performance of flavin mononucleotide (FMN)/Fe Redox flow batteries (RFBs) is enabled by resonance structures, which can stabilize oxidized and reduced forms of FMN-Na
For reasons described we mainly explore the use of FMN in flow batteries under these strongly basic conditions

Summary

Introduction

The versatility in design of redox flow batteries makes them apt to efficiently store energy in large-scale applications at low cost. A redox flow battery using flavin mononucleotide negative and ferrocyanide positive electrolytes in strong base shows stable cycling performance, with over 99% capacity retention over the course of 100 cycles. We hypothesize that this is enabled due to the oxidized and reduced forms of FMN-Na being stabilized by resonance structures. The large fraction of FMN combines with a second molecule of ATP to form FAD catalysed by FAD synthetase Inspired by these biochemicals, flavins, such as riboflavin and lumichrome, have been demonstrated as solidstate electroactive materials for Li-metal batteries[22,23]. This study provides a promising strategy to design energy storage system using organic active materials

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