The use of nickel complexes utilizing non-innocent ligands based on picolinamide to function as redox carriers in flow batteries was explored. The picolinamide moiety was linked together with -CH2 CH2 - (bpen), -CH2 CH2 CH2 - (bppn), and -C6 H4 - (bpb) moieties, resulting in two, three, and four quasi-reversible waves, respectively, for the nickel complexes and >3 V difference between the outermost positive and negative waves. The redox events were theoretically modelled for each complex, showing excellent agreement (<0.3 V difference) between the experimental and modelled potentials. Bulk cycling of the most soluble complex, Ni(bppn), indicated only one of the three waves was reversible. Therefore, Ni(bppn) has the ability to act as a negative charge redox carrier in flow cells.
Keywords: batteries; nickel; nonaqueous; redox flow battery; redox potentials.
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