The redox-targeting reactions can disruptively boost the energy density but introduce additional free-energy loss. Here, the Nernstian-potential-driven redoxtargeting reaction considerably eliminates the voltage loss of the system while maintaining a high energy density. Driven by the Nernstian potential difference, the redox molecule, a ferrocene-grafted ionic liquid with standard potential identical to that of LiFePO 4 , reacts with the solid material both anodically and cathodically and exhibits near-unity solid material utilization, 95% voltage efficiency, and energy density.

As an alternative to the usual commercial reference and quasi-reference electrodes (QREs), we propose metal (Pt, stainless steel) coated with partially oxidized polypyrrole as a QRE. The electrode is easily fabricated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) with the metal electrode in an acetonitrile or CH2Cl2 solution of 10 mM pyrrole containing 0.1 M Bu4NPF6. These QREs were more stable than the widely used metal (e.g., Ag, Pt) wire QRE as demonstrated by testing in several aqueous and organic media, with the stability checked by CV with ferrocenemethanol as the redox species. The results obtained demonstrate good stability of these QREs over a period of 1 day and relatively reproducible potential in a given solvent and supporting electrolyte. This electrode has the advantage that it does not contaminate the test solution with ions or solvent from a usual liquid electrolyte (e.g., the KCl in an Ag/AgCl). It is also simple to fabricate very small electrodes for use in nanocells, e.g., in scanning tunneling and electrochemical microscopy.