Enhanced Performance of Zn/Br Flow Battery Using N-Methyl-N-Propylmorpholinium Bromide as Complexing Agent

Abstract

Redox flow batteries (RFB) are one of the most interesting technologies in the field of energy storage, since they allow the decoupling of power and capacity. Zinc–bromine flow batteries (ZBFB) are a type of hybrid RFB, as the capacity depends on the effective area of the negative electrode (anode), on which metallic zinc is deposited during the charging process. Gaseous bromine is generated at the positive electrode (cathode) during the charging process, so the use of bromine complexing agents (BCA) is very important. These BCAs are quaternary amines capable of complexation with bromine and generating an organic phase, immiscible with the aqueous electrolyte. One of the most commonly used BCAs in RFB technology is 4-methylethylmorpholinium bromide (MEM-Br). In this work, an alternative quaternary amine 4-methylpropylmorpholinium bromide (MPM-Br) was studied. MPM-Br was integrated into the electrolyte, and 200 charge–discharge cycles were performed on the resulting ZBFBs. The obtained results were compared with those when MEM-Br was used, and it was observed that the electrolyte with MPM-Br displays a higher resistance in voltage and higher energy efficiency, making it a promising alternative to MEM-Br.