Recent Developments on Electroactive Organic Electrolytes for Non-Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries: Current Status, Challenges, and Prospects

The ever-increasing threat of climate change and the depletion of fossil fuel resources necessitate the use of solar- and wind-based renewable energy sources. Large-scale energy storage technologies, such as redox flow batteries (RFBs), offer a continuous supply of energy. Depending on the nature of the electrolytes used, RFBs are broadly categorized into aqueous redox flow batteries (ARFBs) and non-aqueous redox flow batteries (NARFBs). ARFBs suffer from various problems, including low conductivity of electrolytes, inferior charge/discharge current densities, high-capacity fading, and lower energy densities. NARFBs offer a wider potential window and range of operating temperatures, faster electron transfer kinetics, and higher energy densities. In this review article, a critical analysis is provided on the design of organic electroactive molecules, their physiochemical/electrochemical properties, and various organic solvents used in NARFBs. Furthermore, various redox-active organic materials, such as metal-based coordination complexes, quinones, radicals, polymers, and miscellaneous electroactive species, explored for NARFBs during 2012–2023 are discussed. Finally, the current challenges and prospects of NARFBs are summarized.