Abstract
With the rise in global energy demand, environmental concerns, and technological innovation in renewable energy. Renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric power have become increasingly prevalent in supporting the electrical grid, both in the United States and globally. Unfortunately, the major drawback of renewable sources is their inability to maintain a constant electrical output. This intermittency has been one of the main reasons for not having a more heavily invested renewable power grid. The long-term solution is to increase the electrical storage grid. This would allow for storing energy produced during peak times and discharging it when electricity is needed. This has paved the way for the development of lowcost and high-efficiency energy storage. Among the vast array of potential storage methods, one that stands out is redox flow batteries. This is because of their high adaptability and versatility in the power grid. The development of redox flow batteries using a non-aqueous system has the potential to achieve energy densities similar to those of lithium-ion batteries while maintaining key advantages, such as scalability. Currently, the significant drawbacks of redox flow batteries stem from the instability and low solubility of the active materials, which ultimately reduce energy density. This thesis focuses on these issues, which are addressed through systematic modification of the vanadium-based compound vanadium-bis-hydroxyiminodiacetate. Here in is outlined the process developed to synthesize these modified compounds. Additionally, these compounds were characterized and tested for electrochemical and physical properties. Three modifications were successfully developed, including the addition of methyl, ethyl, and butyl groups to the hydroxyimino (HIDA) ligand and, consequently, to the final vanadium compound. Furthermore, this indicates a shift in the reduction potential that could lead to a higher RFB capacity.