Symmetric All-Quinone Aqueous Battery

Abstract

Lithium-ion batteries continue to dominate portable electronics and electric vehicles markets for its high energy density/specific energy.1However, combustible electrolytes and expensive cathodes pose safety and cost concerns to consumers.2 Further cost reduction is expected to be limited after decades of development.3Next generation energy storage devices call for safe, cheap, resource-abundant and flexible batteries.2, 4 Rechargeable batteries with cost-effective redox active materials and aqueous electrolytes can potentially meet these requirements.5 Aqueous battery chemistries include lead-acid batteries, nickel-metal hydride aqueous batteries, and emerging aqueous lithium/sodium-ion batteries, but they all have their Achilles’ heels.6 - 12 Here we report a symmetric all-quinone aqueous battery based entirely on Earth-abundant elements that uses a naturally-occurring dye as the redox-active material in both positive and negative electrodes. We demonstrate a symmetric all-quinone cell with 1.04 V of open circuit voltage, 163 mAh/g of capacity, and 100 cycles at 10C with 100% of depth of discharge. The use of the same quinone in a symmetric setup expands the repertoire of inexpensive redox active materials for aqueous rechargeable batteries, and the simple cell design will enable optimizations toward safe, cheap, lightweight, and flexible electronics in the future. Natural abundance and cheap commercial source promise its low cost when produced at large scale. In addition, we demonstrate that other fused quinone derivatives can also be used for symmetric quinone-acid batteries. Further optimization of fused quinones with improved reduction potential and stability, and cell engineering of electrode composition and morphology can further improve the performance of the battery. References Zubi, G.; Dufo-López, R.; Carvalho, M.; Pasaoglu, G., The lithium-ion battery: State of the art and future perspectives. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2018, 89, 292-308. Armand, M.; Tarascon, J. M., Building better batteries. Nature 2008, 451, 6. Hsieh, I.-Y. L.; Pan, M. S.; Chiang,Y.-M.; and Green, W. H. Learning only buys you so much: practical limits on battery price reduction Applied Energy 2019, 239, 218. Larcher, D.; Tarascon, J. M., Towards greener and more sustainable batteries for electrical energy storage. Nat. Chem. 2015, 7(1), 19-29. Beck, F.; Rüetschi, P., Rechargeable batteries with aqueous electrolytes. Electrochimica Acta 2000, 45, 16. Chen, H. Y.; Li, A. J.; Finlow, D. E., The lead and lead-acid battery industries during 2002 and 2007 in China. Journal of Power Sources 2009, 191(1), 22-27. van der Kuijp, T.; Huang, L.; Cherry, C. R., Health hazards of China's lead-acid battery industry: a review of its market drivers, production processes, and health impacts. Environmental Health 2013, 12(61), 10. Ruetschi, P., Aging mechanisms and service life of lead–acid batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2004, 127(1-2), 33-44. Zou, X., Kang, Zongxuan, Shu, Dong, Liao, Yuqing, Gong, Yibin, He, Chun, Hao, Junnan, Zhong, Yayun, Effects of carbon additives on the performance of negative electrode of lead-carbon battery. Electrochimica Acta 2015, 151, 89-98. Rodrigues, L. E. O. C.; Mansur, M. B., Hydrometallurgical separation of rare earth elements, cobalt and nickel from spent nickel–metal–hydride batteries. Journal of Power Sources 2010, 195(11), 3735-3741. Ying, T. K.; Gao, X. P.; Hu, W. K.; Wu, F.; Noréus, D., Studies on rechargeable NiMH batteries. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 2006, 31(4), 525-530. Kim, H.; Hong, J.; Park, K. Y.; Kim, H.; Kim, S. W.; Kang, K., Aqueous rechargeable Li and Na ion batteries. Chem. Rev. 2014, 114(23), 11788-827. Figure 1