A Bio‐Inspired, Heavy‐Metal‐Free, Dual‐Electrolyte Liquid Battery towards Sustainable Energy Storage

Abstract

Abstract Wide‐scale exploitation of renewable energy requires low‐cost efficient energy storage devices. The use of metal‐free, inexpensive redox‐active organic materials represents a promising direction for environmental‐friendly, cost‐effective sustainable energy storage. To this end, a liquid battery is designed using hydroquinone (H 2 BQ) aqueous solution as catholyte and graphite in aprotic electrolyte as anode. The working potential can reach 3.4 V, with specific capacity of 395 mA h g −1 and stable capacity retention about 99.7 % per cycle. Such high potential and capacity is achieved using only C, H and O atoms as building blocks for redox species, and the replacement of Li metal with graphite anode can circumvent potential safety issues. As H 2 BQ can be extracted from biomass directly and its redox reaction mimics the bio‐electrochemical process of quinones in nature, using such a bio‐inspired organic compound in batteries enables access to greener and more sustainable energy‐storage technology.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1002/ange.201600705

Journal

Angewandte Chemie

Year

2016