This paper can be cited as: B. Huskinson, M.P. Marshak, C. Suh, S. Er, M.R. Gerhardt, C.J. Galvin, X. Chen, A. Aspuru-Guzik, R.G. Gordon and M.J. Aziz, "A metal-free organicinorganic aqueous flow battery", Nature 505, 195-198 (2014).The formatted version of this manuscript can be found at the following link: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v505/n7482/full/nature12909.html A metal-free organic-inorganic aqueous flow batteryBrian Huskinson 1 *, Michael P. Marshak 1,2 *, Changwon Suh 2 , Süleyman Er 2,3 , Michael R. *These authors contributed equally to this work.As the fraction of electricity generation from intermittent renewable sources-such as solar or wind-grows, the ability to store large amounts of electrical energy is of increasing importance. Solid-electrode batteries maintain discharge at peak power for far too short a time to fully regulate wind or solar power output 1,2 . In contrast, flow batteries can independently scale the power (electrode area) and energy (arbitrarily large storage volume) components of the system by maintaining all of the electro-active species in fluid form 3-5 . Wide-scale utilization of flow batteries is, however, limited by the abundance and cost of these materials, particularly those using redox-active metals and precious metal electrocatalysts 6,7 . Here we describe a class of energy storage materials that exploits the favourable chemical and electrochemical properties of a family of molecules known as quinones. The example we demonstrate is a metal-free flow battery based on the redox chemistry of 9,10-anthraquinone-2,7-disulphonic acid (AQDS). AQDS undergoes extremely rapid and reversible two-electron two-proton reduction on a glassy carbon electrode in sulphuric acid. An aqueous flow battery with inexpensive carbon electrodes, combining the quinone/hydroquinone couple with the Br 2 /Br redox couple, yields a peak galvanic power density exceeding 0.6 W cm Solutions of AQDS in sulphuric acid (negative side) and Br 2 in HBr (positive side) were pumped through a flow cell as shown schematically in Fig. 1a. The quinone-bromide flow battery (QBFB) was constructed using a Nafion 212 membrane sandwiched between Toray carbon paper electrodes (six stacked on each side) with no catalysts; it is similar to a cell described elsewhere (see figure 2 in ref. 7). We report the potential-current response (Fig. 1b) and the potential-power relationship ( measured with respect to the quinone side of the cell). As the SOC increased from 10% to 90%, the open-circuit potential increased linearly from 0.69 V to 0.92 V. In the galvanic direction, peak power densities were 0.246 W cm 2 and 0.600 W cm 2 at these same SOCs, respectively ( Fig. 1c). In order to avoid significant water splitting in the electrolytic direction, we used a cutoff voltage of 1.5 V, at which point the current densities observed at 10% and 90% SOCs were −2.25 A cm −2 and −0.95 A cm −2 , respectively, with corresponding power densities of −3.342 W cm −2 and −1.414 W cm −2 .In Fig. 2 we report the results of initial cy...
The authors investigate four anthraquinone derivatives as negative electrolyte candidates for an aqueous quinone-bromide redox flow battery: anthraquinone-2-sulfonic acid (AQS), 1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone-2,7-disulfonic acid (DHAQDS), alizarin red S (ARS), and 1,4-dihydroxyanthraquinone-2,3-dimethylsulfonic acid (DHAQDMS). The standard reduction potentials are all lower than that of anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonic acid (AQDS), the molecule used in previous quinone-bromide batteries. DHAQDS and ARS undergo irreversible reactions on contact with bromine, which precludes their use against bromine but not necessarily against other electrolytes. DHAQDMS is apparently unreactive with bromine but cannot be reversibly reduced, whereas AQS is stable against bromine and stable upon reduction. The authors demonstrate an AQS-bromide flow cell with higher open circuit potential and peak galvanic power density than the equivalent AQDS-bromide cell. This study demonstrates the use of chemical synthesis to tailor organic molecules for improving flow battery performance.
While structures and reactivities of many small molecules can be computed efficiently and accurately using quantum chemical methods, heuristic approaches remain essential for modeling complex structures and large-scale chemical systems. Here we present heuristics-aided quantum chemical methodology applicable to complex chemical reaction networks such as those arising in metabolism and prebiotic chemistry. Chemical heuristics offer an expedient way of traversing high-dimensional reactive potential energy surfaces and are combined here with quantum chemical structure optimizations, which yield the structures and energies of the reaction intermediates and products. Application of heuristics-aided quantum chemical methodology to the formose reaction of prebiotic evolution reproduces the experimentally observed reaction products, major reaction pathways, and autocatalytic cycles.
Alzheimer’s disease research has been at an impasse in recent years with lingering questions about the involvement of Amyloid-β (Aβ). Early versions of the amyloid hypothesis considered Aβ something of an undesirable byproduct of APP processing that wreaks havoc on the human neocortex, yet evolutionary conservation - over three hundred million years - indicates this peptide plays an important biological role in survival and reproductive fitness. Here we describe how Aβ regulates blood vessel branching in tissues as varied as human umbilical vein and zebrafish hindbrain. High physiological concentrations of Aβ monomer induced angiogenesis by a conserved mechanism that blocks γ-secretase processing of a Notch intermediate, NEXT, and reduces the expression of downstream Notch target genes. Our findings allude to an integration of signaling pathways that utilize γ-secretase activity, which may have significant implications for our understanding of Alzheimer’s pathogenesis vis-à-vis vascular changes that set the stage for ensuing neurodegeneration.
Most of the communicable diseases have contact, airborne and/or droplet mode of transsmission. Following the outbreak of COVID-19, the Taiwan government implemented the use of masks and sanitizer, as well as other preventive measures like social distancing for prevention. This public response likely contributed significantly to the decline in the outbreak of other infectious diseases.
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