CAS: Electrochemical Processes of Chelated Metals

In this project, funded by the Chemical Structure, Dynamics & Mechanisms B Program of the Chemistry Division, Professor Michael Marshak of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Colorado Boulder is developing new materials for grid-scale long duration energy storage. Grid-scale energy storage is a longstanding and unmet need to support the sustainable production of electricity from intermittent sources such as wind and solar. Flow batteries offer a compelling engineering framework for providing inexpensive energy storage because they permit independent scaling of their power conversion and energy storage components. This project supports investigation of the fundamental electrochemical behavior of metal chelate materials as sustainable and scalable energy storage materials in flow batteries. This project also supports the development of new education and outreach programs in battery chemistry, with the goal of creating a competitive and equitable US workforce in clean energy technologies. The goal of the project aims to provide a fundamental molecular understanding of a broad class of metal chelate coordination complexes, coupled with the evaluation of these chemical phenomena to improve system level flow battery performance. This understanding will be accomplished through the evaluation of the ability of organic chelates to inhibit water splitting reactions and test its performance limits. This approach will then be expanded to develop metal chelate complexes that can undergo multi-electron redox reactions, which can further increase the energy density and performance of the flow battery systems. This project represents a new approach to address longstanding challenges in the field of energy storage with low-cost materials that are economically feasible for wide scale deployment. Moreover, this project not only could prove transformative for enabling high-voltage aqueous batteries, but the molecular inhibition of water splitting using chelates could also carry wider implications for controlling hydrogen evolution reactions in other electrochemical and electrocatalytic applications such as electrochemical fuel production. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.