Slurry Design for a Low Cost, High Capacity Magnesium Semi-Solid Flow Battery

Abstract

Semi solid flow batteries (SSFB) are developed by forming suspensions of electrochemically active and conductive particles for use as an anolyte or catholyte in a redox flow battery. By utilizing micron-scale powders from mature battery chemistries in a flowable suspension, the benefits of energy-dense intercalation chemistries with the scalability of flow battery architectures can be combined for low cost electrochemical storage. Presently, a narrow set of materials has been explored, focusing on chemistries with a lithium anode. In this work, a magnesium SSFB with an optimized MoS2 cathodic slurry is demonstrated as a low cost, high material abundance alternative to lithium-based chemistries.A mixed ionic-electronic conductive network is designed around a dual-ion (Mg, Li) electrolyte, by combining the all-phenyl complex (APC) + LiCl, MoS2, and ketjen black (KB) to form the cathodic slurry. The rheological, electrical, and electrochemical properties of MoS2-KB-APC slurries with varying compositions have been measured. Full cells, with a Mg foil anode and MoS2 slurry cathode, are shown to cycle reversibly for 20 cycles at C/5 in a non-flowing configuration, reaching 180 mAh/g discharge capacity. LiCl concentration and KB concentration are identified as critical to high capacity slurry cathodes. The relative impacts of Mg and Li ions are quantitatively analyzed, showing that both ions are reversibly intercalated during cycling. Finally, a custom flow cell is used to demonstrate 120 mAh/g discharge capacity at C/8, highlighting the flowable nature of the cathode suspension. This work provides experimental data and insight into how existing low cost material sets can be utilized in a semi solid flow battery architecture. Figure 1