As a necessary supplement to clean renewable energy, aqueous flow batteries have become one of the most promising next-generation energy storage and conversion devices because of their excellent safety, high efficiency, flexibility, low cost, and particular capability of being scaled severally in light of energy and power density. The water-soluble redox-active electrolytes are the core components of aqueous flow batteries. The redox-active organic molecules have leaped to the more important electrolytes than conventional inorganic species because of their structural diversity, tailorability, and potential low cost. Much research work was conducted on organic electrolytes for designing high-performance aqueous flow batteries. The motivation of this review is to summarize and present the structure features, property evaluation methods, performance improvement schemes and battery design principles. The detailed functionalization methods to improve the physical and chemical performances of organic electrolytes including redox potential, reaction kinetic rate, solubility, and permeability have been emphatically provided and analyzed. Meanwhile, the further development prospect of aqueous organic electrolytes was put forward.

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In the present study, a polysaccharide from Ilex cornuta fruits (LCFP‐3) was obtained by hot water extraction, Diethyaminoethyl cellulose‐52 (DEAE‐52) chromatography column and Sephadex G‐100 gel column purification. Its structural characteristics were further explored using high performance anion exchange chromatography (HPAEC), gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Monosaccharide composition analysis revealed LCFP‐3 contained mainly Galactose (31.92 %), Arabinose (25.87 %) and Galacturonic acid (23.35 %) while small percentage of Rhamnose, Glucose, Mannose and Xylose. Chemical composition analysis showed that the total sugar content of LCFP‐3 was 90.31 % and the protein content was 0.246 %. Gel permeation chromatography (GPC) analysis showed that its average molecular weight was 41.199 kDa. Structural analysis showed that LCFP‐3 may be composed of residues, T‐α‐Arap, T‐α‐Rhap, 1,3‐α‐Arap, 1,4‐α‐Arap, T‐β‐Galp, 1,4‐α‐GalpA(OMe), 1,4‐β‐Glcp, 1,3‐β‐Galp, 1,3,6‐β‐Manp, 1,6‐β‐Galp, 1,3,4‐β‐GalpA, 1,4,6‐β‐Manp, 1,3,6‐β‐Glcp, 1,2,3,4‐α‐Xylp. The anti‐inflammatory activity of LCFP‐3 was evaluated using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐induced RAW246.7 macrophages. The results showed that 1–200 μg/mL LCFP‐3 could dose‐dependently protect against LPS‐induced toxicity and 1 μg/mL LCFP‐3 could significantly inhibit LPS‐induced NO production. Therefore, LCFP‐3 exerted an anti‐inflammatory activity and has great potential as a functional ingredient.