Mitigating the Viscosity–Concentration Trade-Off in Imidazolium-Functionalized Viologens for Aqueous Organic Redox Flow Batteries

, demonstrating superior performance compared to existing viologen-based AORFBs. Mechanistic insights from computational modeling and electrostatic potential mapping suggest that the incorporation of charged methyl-imidazolium moieties modulates intermolecular interactions, leading to a more dispersed molecular environment and weakened π-π stacking, which is consistent with the suppressed viscosity growth at high concentration. This molecular engineering strategy effectively retards the buildup of viscosity typically observed in concentrated electrolytes, offering a generalizable paradigm for developing high-energy, high-power organic flow batteries.