Elucidating the higher stability of vanadium(V) cations in mixed acid based redox flow battery electrolytes

The vanadium(V) cation structures in mixed acid based electrolyte solution were analyzed by density functional theory (DFT) based computational modeling and 51V and 35Cl nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. The vanadium(V) cation exists as di-nuclear [V2O3Cl2·6H2O]2+ compound at higher vanadium concentrations (≥1.75 M). In particular, at high temperatures (>295 K) this di-nuclear compound undergoes ligand exchange process with nearby solvent chlorine molecule and forms chlorine bonded [V2O3Cl·6H2O]2+ compound. This chlorine bonded [V2O3Cl2·6H2O]2+ compound might be resistant to the de-protonation reaction which is the initial step in the precipitation reaction in vanadium based electrolyte solutions. The combined theoretical and experimental approach reveals that formation of chlorine bonded [V2O3Cl2·6H2O]2+ compound might be central to the observed higher thermal stability of mixed acid based vanadium(V) electrolyte solutions.