California Institute of Technology

Brendon McNicholas

Robert H Grubbs

Simon Christopher Jones

Christopher M Bates

Alice Chang

Harry B Gray

Emmanuelle Despagnet-Ayoub

Danh Ngo

In an aspect, a redox flow battery comprises a catholyte and an anolyte; wherein at least one of said catholyte and said anolyte is a metal-coordination complex, said metal-coordination complex comprising: (i) a metal; (ii) one or more first ligands coordinated with said metal atom, wherein each of said first ligands is independently a Lewis basic ligand; and one or more second ligands associated with said one or more first ligands, wherein each of said second ligands is independently a Lewis acid ligand; and a nonaqueous solvent, wherein said catholyte, said anolyte or both are dissolved in said nonaqueous solvent. One or more first ligands may be provided in a primary coordination sphere of said metal-coordination complex and one or more second ligands may be provided in a secondary coordination sphere of said metal-coordination complex. The one or more first ligands independently may comprise a Lewis basic functional group and each of said one or more second ligands independently may comprise a Lewis acidic functional group.

High performance inorganic complexes for next-generation redox flow batteries

Provided herein are copolymer electrolytes and electrocatalyst platforms, including brush block copolymers, triblock brush copolymers and pentablock brush copolymers. The copolymers described have beneficial chemical, physical and electrical properties including high ionic conductivity and mechanical strength. In embodiments, for example, the provided copolymer electrolytes and electrocatalyst platforms are doped with lithium salts or mixed with ionic liquids to form ion gels. In some embodiments, the copolymers provided herein self-assemble into physically cross-linked polymer networks with additional useful properties. The provided copolymers have low dispersity in the polymer side chains and do not require post-polymerization modifications.

Brush block copolymer electrolytes and electrocatalyst compositions

Provided herein is a class of copolymers, including triblock brush copolymers having specific block configurations, for example, ABC triblock brush copolymers and ABA triblock brush copolymers. In an embodiment, for example, copolymers of the invention incorporate various polymer side chain groups which contribute beneficial physical, chemical, or electronic properties such as increased mechanical or elastic strength, improved ionic or electric conductivity. In some embodiments, the provided copolymers exhibit advantageous steric properties allowing for rapid self-assembly into a variety of morphologies that are substantially different than non-brush, block copolymers.

Triblock brush block copolymers

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Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Brendon McNicholas