Harvard College

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

U.S. Army Rdecom-ardec

The Penn State Research Foundation

Quino Energy, Inc.

Michael J Aziz

Roy Gerald Gordon

Eric Mazur

Jene A Golovchenko

Daniel Branton

Alan Aspuru-Guzik

Jiali Li

Michael S Marshak

David E Pastor

Derek M Stein

Liuchuan Tong

Kaixiang Lin

Changwon Suh

Suleyman Er

Brian Huskinson

Eugene S Beh

Gavin M King

Tonio Buonassisi

Gregor M Schurmann

Theodore Alexander Betley

Mark T Winkler

Ciaran J McMullan

Jeffrey Warrender

David Gator Kwabi

Yunlong Ji

Marc-Antoni Goulet

Aurore J Said

Austin Joseph Akey

Riley E Brandt

Benjamin Franta

Hemant Gandhi

Qing Chen

Daniel L Recht

Kurt Z House

Ciaran J Mcmullan

Michael Marshak

Theodore A Betley

Roy G Gordon

Daniel Paul Schrag

Christopher H House

Min Wu

Meisam Bahari

The invention features redox flow batteries and compound useful therein as negolytes or posolytes. The batteries and compounds are advantageous in terms of being useable in water solutions at neutral pH and have extremely high capacity retention. Suitable negolytes are diquaternized bipyridines, suitable posolytes are water-soluble ferrocene derivatives.

Aqueous redox flow battery electrolytes with high chemical and electrochemical stability, high water solubility, low membrane permeability

We disclose quinone compounds and related species (Formula I) that possess significant advantages when used as a redox active material in a battery, e.g., a redox flow battery. In particular, the compounds provide redox flow batteries (RFBs) with extremely high capacity retention. For example, RFBs of the invention can be cycled for 500 times with negligible loss of capacity, and such batteries could be employed for years of service. Thus, the invention provides a high efficiency, long cycle life redox flow battery with reasonable power cost, low energy cost, and all the energy scaling advantages of a flow battery.

Quinones having high capacity retention for use as electrolytes in aqueous redox flow batteries

The invention provides flow batteries including an anthraquinone and methods of discharging the batteries that reduce loss of capacity. The loss of capacity of anthraquinones may be mitigated by controlling the state of charge and/or oxidizing the negolyte.

Extending the lifetime of organic flow batteries via redox state management

The invention provides an electrochemical cell based on a new chemistry for a flow battery for large scale, e.g., gridscale, electrical energy storage. Electrical energy is stored chemically in quinone molecules having multiple oxidation states, e.g., three or more. During charging of the battery, the quinone molecules at one electrode are oxidized by emitting electrons and protons, and the quinone molecules at the other electrode are reduced by accepting electrons and protons. These reactions are reversed to deliver electrical energy. The invention also provides additional high and low potential quinones that are useful in rechargeable batteries.

Quinone and hydroquinone based flow battery

The present invention relates to flow battery systems including a flow battery and an electrolyte rebalancing system. In accordance with certain embodiments, the electrolytes used in the systems of the present invention are aqueous, and in one embodiment, bromine species are used as redox-active species.

Flow battery with electrolyte rebalancing system

In one aspect a method of fabricating an n-doped strained germanium (Ge) film is disclosed, which includes depositing a strained Ge film on an underlying substrate, implanting at least one electron-donating dopant in the Ge film, and exposing the implanted Ge film to one or more laser pulses having a pulsewidth in a range of about 1 ns to about 100 ms so as to generate a substantially crystalline strained Ge film. In some embodiments, the pulses can cause melting followed by substantial recrystallization of at least a portion of the implanted Ge film. In some embodiments, the resultant Ge film can have a thickness in a range of about 10 nm to about 1 microns.

N-type doping of strained epitaxial germanium films through co-implantation and nanosecond pulsed laser melting

In one aspect, a method of processing a semiconductor substrate is disclosed, which comprises incorporating at least one dopant in a semiconductor substrate so as to generate a doped polyphase surface layer on a light-trapping surface, and optically annealing the surface layer via exposure to a plurality of laser pulses having a pulsewidth in a range of about 1 nanosecond to about 50 nanoseconds so as to enhance crystallinity of said doped surface layer while maintaining high above-bandgap, and in many embodiments sub-bandgap optical absorptance.

Creation of hyperdoped semiconductors with concurrent high crystallinity and high sub-bandgap absorptance using nanosecond laser annealing

The invention provides an electrochemical cell based on a new chemistry for a flow battery for large scale, e.g., gridscale, electrical energy storage. Electrical energy is stored chemically at an electrochemical electrode by the protonation of small organic molecules called quinones to hydroquinones. The proton is provided by a complementary electrochemical reaction at the other electrode. These reactions are reversed to deliver electrical energy. A flow battery based on this concept can operate as a closed system. The flow battery architecture has scaling advantages over solid electrode batteries for large scale energy storage.

Small organic molecule based flow battery

Method for making thin crystalline or polycrystalline layers. The method includes electrochemically etching a crystalline silicon template to form a porous double layer thereon, the double layer including a highly porous deeper layer and a less porous shallower layer. The shallower layer is irradiated with a short laser pulse selected to recrystallize the shallower layer resulting in a crystalline layer. Silicon is deposited on the recrystallized shallower layer and the silicon is irradiated with a short laser pulse selected to crystalize the silicon leaving a layer of crystallized silicon on the template. Thereafter, the layer of crystallized silicon is separated from the template. The process of the invention can be used to make optoelectronic devices.

Method for producing thin layers of crystalline or polycrystalline materials

A manufacture having an electrical response to incident photons includes a semiconductor substrate; a chalcogen-doped semiconductor active layer on a first side of the substrate; a first contact in electrical contact with the active layer; and a second contact in electrical contact with the substrate; wherein, photons incident upon the active layer cause a variation in current between the first and second contacts.

Semiconductor optoelectronic device

A solid state nanopore device including two or more materials and a method for fabricating the same. The device includes a solid state insulating membrane having an exposed surface, a conductive material disposed on at least a portion of the exposed surface of the solid state membrane, and a nanopore penetrating an area of the conductive material and at least a portion of the solid state membrane. During fabrication a conductive material is applied on a portion of a solid state membrane surface, and a nanopore of a first diameter is formed. When the surface is exposed to an ion beam, material from the membrane and conductive material flows to reduce the diameter of the nanopore. A method for evaluating a polymer molecule using the solid state nanopore device is also described. The device is contacted with the polymer molecule and the molecule is passed through the nanopore, allowing each monomer of the polymer molecule to be monitored.

Solid state molecular probe device

Control of solid state dimensional features

Growing community of inventors

Concord, MA, United States of America

Michael J Aziz