Elucidating the Impact of Conductive Additives on Redox-mediated Reactions through a Porous Electrode Theory Approach
Abstract
*Corresponding Author Abstract While common to redox-mediated flow batteries (RMFBs), the role and influence of conductive composites vary widely, obfuscating pathways for performance improvements. In this work, we expand upon an earlier modeling framework to explicitly resolve the charge transport within composite active materials of RMFBs, combining porous electrode and mixed potential theories to describe the internal currents and charge transfer reactions produced by the “off-electrode” chemical redox reactions. The derived models elucidate the dynamics and spatial distributions of the mediator and solid half-reactions, highlighting differences in the driving force and mediator reaction rate associated with the active solid and conductive solid interfaces. The importance of conductive additives is found to be strongly tied to the relative rates of the active solid and “localized” mediator half-reactions occurring at the active solid interface, providing an explanation for the observed discrepancies in the observed improvements. A previously derived scaling relationship is adapted to capture trends in solid utilization for composite active materials in RMFBs. Together, these advancements provide newfound insights, offering guidance into the design and study of emerging redox-mediated systems.
Related
- Synthesis and tin(iv) chloride mediated reactions of tri- and tetra-substituted donor-acceptor nitrocyclopropanes: access to 3-chloroisoxazoles and 1-naphthols.
- Zeolite-Mediated Three- and Pseudo-Five-Component Reactions Involving α-Ketoglutaric Acid, Aromatic Aldehydes and 5-Aminotetrazole
- Virtual electrode XPS experiments on Li 3−x Sc 1−x Zr x Cl ₆ (x ∼ 0.2): Oxygen-mediated interface passivation on metallic lithium anodes
- How to Discover New Electrolyte Additives for Lithium Batteries: A Computational Roadmap
- Elucidating the Intersystem Crossing of the Nitrogen-Vacancy Center up to Megabar Pressures
BibTeX
@misc{matteucci2026elucidating,
title = {{Elucidating the Impact of Conductive Additives on Redox-mediated Reactions through a Porous Electrode Theory Approach}},
author = {Nicholas J. Matteucci and Fikile R. Brushett},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15008040/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008040/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Elucidating the Impact of Conductive Additives on Redox-mediated Reactions through a Porous Electrode Theory Approach
AU - Nicholas J. Matteucci
AU - Fikile R. Brushett
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15008040/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15008040/v1
AB - *Corresponding Author Abstract While common to redox-mediated flow batteries (RMFBs), the role and influence of conductive composites vary widely, obfuscating pathways for performance improvements. In this work, we expand upon an earlier modeling framework to explicitly resolve the charge transport within composite active materials of RMFBs, combining porous electrode and mixed potential theories to describe the internal currents and charge transfer reactions produced by the “off-electrode” chemical redox reactions. The derived models elucidate the dynamics and spatial distributions of the mediator and solid half-reactions, highlighting differences in the driving force and mediator reaction rate associated with the active solid and conductive solid interfaces. The importance of conductive additives is found to be strongly tied to the relative rates of the active solid and “localized” mediator half-reactions occurring at the active solid interface, providing an explanation for the observed discrepancies in the observed improvements. A previously derived scaling relationship is adapted to capture trends in solid utilization for composite active materials in RMFBs. Together, these advancements provide newfound insights, offering guidance into the design and study of emerging redox-mediated systems.
ER -