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louis

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2008-03-24

Posts: 7,208

Redox flow batteries

Some interesting developments in Redox battery technology - moving towards cheaper readily available, safe water-based materials.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyzQsVzKylE

The scalability and low cost means they might become an important part of the energy storage picture.

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kbd512

Administrator

Registered: 2015-01-02

Posts: 7,853

Re: Redox flow batteries

It's cheaper than Lead-acid, no crazy-high temperatures to maintain, and uses abundant materials.  It looks promising, but needs funding, like so many other projects.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Redox flow batteries

The flow technology limits are rate of flow and limits of storage capacity as to working or not. The loss is poor isolation and cost to pump in or out as charge is made or used for this device type.

This post was made with firefox and edited to add this note after woulds.

was able to save the bit to a 5 and now am trying to edit the post

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Redox flow batteries

For large-scale energy storage, scientists are pursuing all-liquid designs called flow batteries where both the electrolyte and the electrodes are liquids. This allows for super-fast charging and makes it easy to make really big batteries.

Calliban

Member

From: Northern England, UK

Registered: 2019-08-18

Posts: 3,793

Re: Redox flow batteries

If redox is used as a vehicle power source, then it would appear to dispense with the need for high grid power demands related to high charging rates.  This would otherwise drive the need for huge numbers of gas turbines to meet peak power requirements of charging, which would effectively mean that electric cars were natural gas powered cars, plus a shed load of extra transmission infrastructure.  Redox batteries could feasibly avoid that insane situation.  However, energy density appears to be too low for mobile applications.  And the concept would place an unsustainable drain on Earth's resources of vanadium if scaled to the requisite levels.

Last edited by Calliban (2021-12-31 03:48:48)

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SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Redox flow batteries

I am thinking that for an electric vehicle that we can make the pump human powered since we want the batteries power to be used for moving.
I have not found the details to make multiple cells as this just shows a single cell.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Redox flow batteries

Georgia Institute of Technology engineers have now developed a more compact flow battery cell configuration that reduces the size of the cell by 75%. That corresponds to reducing the size and cost of the entire flow battery.

tahanson43206

Moderator

Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 19,381

Re: Redox flow batteries

For SpaceNut re #7

Thanks for the link to this promising research.  While the work has promise, the manual construction is a testament to the stamina and persistence of the academic team.

Cutting the battery volume by 75% is a huge improvement. As the press release noted the capacity and charge/discharge lifetime is tremendous. That plus the steer around lithium has lots of battery watchers quite enthralled.

The issues focused on building the battery, Hand layout, even for the lab test unit, had to be immensely tedious. That and the volume of fiber needed if the market responds is going to a big process engineering project. Maybe some sharp engineer will use a laser to just punch holes in a sheet of the fiber material and save the layout step entirely. There will be lots of ideas to come.

But this is just at the proving testing stage. This tech is sure to get lots better, and with this research showing a huge improvement, likely another wave of effort could come quickly.

More than 2500 cycles with first design. Wow.

By Brian Westenhaus via New Energy and Fuel

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:

The impression I get is that this would be a fruitful focus for those studying Applied Nanotechnology.

(th)

SpaceNut

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From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Redox flow batteries

How Flow Batteries Are Revolutionizing Energy Storage With Renewable Sources

Next-generation flow battery design sets records

The study, just published in the journal Joule, details the first use of a dissolved simple sugar called β-cyclodextrin, a derivative of starch, to boost battery longevity and capacity. In a series of experiments, the scientists optimized the ratio of chemicals in the system until it achieved 60 percent more peak power.

The β-cyclodextrin additive is also the first to speed the electrochemical reaction that stores and then releases the flow battery energy, in a process called homogeneous catalysis. This means the sugar does its work while dissolved in solution, rather than as a solid applied to a surface.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,431

Re: Redox flow batteries

The Revolutionary Impact of Flow Batteries on Renewable Energy Storage