Electrochemical investigation of tetravalent uranium β-diketones for active materials of all-uranium redox flow battery

Abstract

For active materials of the all-uranium redox flow battery for the power storage, tetravalent uranium β-diketones were investigated. The electrode reactions of U(ba)4 and U(btfa)4 were examined in comparison with that of U(acac)4, where ba denotes benzoylacetone, btfa benzoyltrifluoroacetone and acac acetylacetone. The cyclic voltammograms of U(ba)4 and U(btfa)4 solutions indicate that there are two series of redox reactions corresponding to the complexes with different coordination numbers of four and three. The electrode kinetics of the U(IV)/U(III) redox reactions for btfa complexes is examined. The obtained result supports that the uranium β-diketone complexes examined in the present study will serve as excellent active materials for negative electrolyte in the redox flow battery. © 2002 Atomic Energy Society of Japan.