TY - JOUR
T1 - In Operando Visualization of the Electrochemical Formation of Liquid Polybromide Microdroplets
AU - Wu, Yutong
AU - Huang, Po Wei
AU - Howe, Joshua D.
AU - Yan, Yu
AU - Martinez, Jose
AU - Marianchuk, Anna
AU - Zhang, Yamin
AU - Chen, Hang
AU - Liu, Nian
N1 - Funding Information:
N.L. acknowledges support from faculty startup funds from the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Seed Grant from the Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology of the Georgia Institute of Technology. This work was performed in part at the Georgia Tech Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology, a member of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant ECCS-1542174). J.D.H. was supported by the Center for Understanding and Control of Acid Gas-Induced Evolution of Materials for Energy (UNCAGE-ME), an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under Contract DE-SC0012577.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
PY - 2019/10/21
Y1 - 2019/10/21
N2 - Zinc–bromine flow batteries are promising for stationary energy storage, and bromine-complexing agents have been used to form phase-separated liquid polybromide products. However, an understanding of the dynamics of polybromide nucleation is limited due to the beam sensitivity and complexity of polybromides. Here we report an in operando platform composed of dark-field light microscopy and a transparent electrochemical cell to reveal the dynamics of polybromide formation in their native environment. Using our platform, we confirm and reveal the liquid nature, chemical composition, pinning effect (strong interaction with Pt), residual effect (residual charge products on the surface), self-discharging, and over-oxidation of the polybromide products. The results provide insights into the role of complexing agents and guide the future design of zinc–bromine flow batteries. Furthermore, our in operando platform can potentially be used to study sensitive species and phases in other electrochemical reactions.
AB - Zinc–bromine flow batteries are promising for stationary energy storage, and bromine-complexing agents have been used to form phase-separated liquid polybromide products. However, an understanding of the dynamics of polybromide nucleation is limited due to the beam sensitivity and complexity of polybromides. Here we report an in operando platform composed of dark-field light microscopy and a transparent electrochemical cell to reveal the dynamics of polybromide formation in their native environment. Using our platform, we confirm and reveal the liquid nature, chemical composition, pinning effect (strong interaction with Pt), residual effect (residual charge products on the surface), self-discharging, and over-oxidation of the polybromide products. The results provide insights into the role of complexing agents and guide the future design of zinc–bromine flow batteries. Furthermore, our in operando platform can potentially be used to study sensitive species and phases in other electrochemical reactions.
KW - Zn–Br flow batteries
KW - in operando visualization
KW - ionic liquids
KW - optical microscopy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072157819&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/anie.201906980
DO - 10.1002/anie.201906980
M3 - Article
C2 - 31412156
AN - SCOPUS:85072157819
SN - 1433-7851
VL - 58
SP - 15228
EP - 15234
JO - Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
JF - Angewandte Chemie - International Edition
IS - 43
ER -