{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97494"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/97494","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Low cost reactors for redox-active polymer flow batteries","abstract":"Redox-active small molecules, used traditionally in redox flow batteries (RFBs), are susceptible to parasitic crossover of electroactive species through a porous separator, and require expensive ion exchange membranes (IEMs) to achieve long lifetimes. Redox-active polymer (RAP) solutions show great promise as candidate electrolytes to mitigate crossover through size-exclusion, enabling the use of relatively inexpensive porous separators in place of IEMs. This study holistically evaluates poly(vinylbenzyl ethyl viologen) RAPs as potential active species for RFBs, based on trends in electrolyte transport properties, electrochemical performance, and reactor cost. The ionic conductivity of these solutions is found to be of the same order of magnitude as typical Li-ion battery electrolytes, indicating that RAP macromolecular design does not limit the mobility of conducting ions in solution. The electrochemical performance of a RAP-based RFB is predicted by accounting for capacity losses due to electrolyte mixing, and polarization within its reactor. Techno-economic analysis evaluates the impact of electrolyte transport properties and operating conditions on RFB reactor cost. Minimum reactor cost lies between 11-17 dollars kWh-1 across the entire range of active species concentrations studied, which is comparable to the estimated target mean RFB reactor cost of $13.8 kWh-1. The achievement of low cost reactors is enabled by the deviation in transport properties of RAP solutions from the prediction based on the Stokes-Einstein equation. The methodology used here could potentially serve as an approach for examining other candidate active species for RFBs.","abstract_html":"Redox-active small molecules, used traditionally in redox flow batteries (RFBs), are susceptible to parasitic crossover of electroactive species through a porous separator, and require expensive ion exchange membranes (IEMs) to achieve long lifetimes. Redox-active polymer (RAP) solutions show great promise as candidate electrolytes to mitigate crossover through size-exclusion, enabling the use of relatively inexpensive porous separators in place of IEMs. This study holistically evaluates poly(vinylbenzyl ethyl viologen) RAPs as potential active species for RFBs, based on trends in electrolyte transport properties, electrochemical performance, and reactor cost. The ionic conductivity of these solutions is found to be of the same order of magnitude as typical Li-ion battery electrolytes, indicating that RAP macromolecular design does not limit the mobility of conducting ions in solution. The electrochemical performance of a RAP-based RFB is predicted by accounting for capacity losses due to electrolyte mixing, and polarization within its reactor. Techno-economic analysis evaluates the impact of electrolyte transport properties and operating conditions on RFB reactor cost. Minimum reactor cost lies between 11-17 dollars kWh-1 across the entire range of active species concentrations studied, which is comparable to the estimated target mean RFB reactor cost of $13.8 kWh-1. The achievement of low cost reactors is enabled by the deviation in transport properties of RAP solutions from the prediction based on the Stokes-Einstein equation. The methodology used here could potentially serve as an approach for examining other candidate active species for RFBs.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Iyer, Vinay Arvind"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Mechanical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Smith, Kyle C."],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2017,"date_issued":"2017-08-10T19:16:15Z","date_published":"2017-08-10T19:16:15Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:34Z","subjects":["Redox flow battery","Redox-active polymer","Rheology","Reactor cost","Energy storage"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2017 Vinay Arvind Iyer"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97494","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Smith, Kyle C."]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Iyer, Vinay Arvind"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2017-08-10T19:16:15Z","2017-04-27","2017-05"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Mechanical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Redox flow battery","Redox-active polymer","Rheology","Reactor cost","Energy storage"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2017 Vinay Arvind Iyer"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/97494"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Redox-active small molecules, used traditionally in redox flow batteries (RFBs), are susceptible to parasitic crossover of electroactive species through a porous separator, and require expensive ion exchange membranes (IEMs) to achieve long lifetimes. Redox-active polymer (RAP) solutions show great promise as candidate electrolytes to mitigate crossover through size-exclusion, enabling the use of relatively inexpensive porous separators in place of IEMs. This study holistically evaluates poly(vinylbenzyl ethyl viologen) RAPs as potential active species for RFBs, based on trends in electrolyte transport properties, electrochemical performance, and reactor cost. The ionic conductivity of these solutions is found to be of the same order of magnitude as typical Li-ion battery electrolytes, indicating that RAP macromolecular design does not limit the mobility of conducting ions in solution. The electrochemical performance of a RAP-based RFB is predicted by accounting for capacity losses due to electrolyte mixing, and polarization within its reactor. Techno-economic analysis evaluates the impact of electrolyte transport properties and operating conditions on RFB reactor cost. Minimum reactor cost lies between 11-17 dollars kWh-1 across the entire range of active species concentrations studied, which is comparable to the estimated target mean RFB reactor cost of $13.8 kWh-1. The achievement of low cost reactors is enabled by the deviation in transport properties of RAP solutions from the prediction based on the Stokes-Einstein equation. The methodology used here could potentially serve as an approach for examining other candidate active species for RFBs.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Vinay Iyer, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-26 at 12:43.","The student, Vinay Iyer, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-26 at 12:54.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-27 at 11:13.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11089 on 2017-08-10 at 13:46:40","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:16:15Z (GMT). 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Redox-active polymer (RAP) solutions show great promise as candidate electrolytes to mitigate crossover through size-exclusion, enabling the use of relatively inexpensive porous separators in place of IEMs. This study holistically evaluates poly(vinylbenzyl ethyl viologen) RAPs as potential active species for RFBs, based on trends in electrolyte transport properties, electrochemical performance, and reactor cost. The ionic conductivity of these solutions is found to be of the same order of magnitude as typical Li-ion battery electrolytes, indicating that RAP macromolecular design does not limit the mobility of conducting ions in solution. The electrochemical performance of a RAP-based RFB is predicted by accounting for capacity losses due to electrolyte mixing, and polarization within its reactor. Techno-economic analysis evaluates the impact of electrolyte transport properties and operating conditions on RFB reactor cost. Minimum reactor cost lies between 11-17 dollars kWh-1 across the entire range of active species concentrations studied, which is comparable to the estimated target mean RFB reactor cost of $13.8 kWh-1. The achievement of low cost reactors is enabled by the deviation in transport properties of RAP solutions from the prediction based on the Stokes-Einstein equation. The methodology used here could potentially serve as an approach for examining other candidate active species for RFBs.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2017-08-10 without embargo terms","The student, Vinay Iyer, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-26 at 12:43.","The student, Vinay Iyer, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-26 at 12:54.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-27 at 11:13.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11089 on 2017-08-10 at 13:46:40","Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T19:16:15Z (GMT). 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