Perfunctionalized Dodecaborate Clusters as Stable Metal-Free Active Materials for Charge Storage

Abstract

© 2019 American Chemical Society. We report a class of perfunctionalized dodecaborate clusters that exhibit stability during galvanostatic cycling. These boron clusters afford several degrees of freedom in material design to tailor properties including solubility and redox potential. The exceptional stability of these clusters was demonstrated by using a symmetric flow cell setup for electrochemical cycling between two oxidation states for 45 days, with post-run analysis showing negligible decomposition of the active species (<1%). To further probe the limits of this system, a prototype redox flow battery with two different cluster materials was used to determine mutual compatibility. This work effectively illustrates the potential of bespoke boron clusters as robust material platform for electrochemical energy conversion and storage.