Performance Evaluation of a Scaled-Up Membraneless Organic-Based Hybrid Flow Battery

Abstract

This article presents an evaluation of the performance of a membrane-less organic-based flow battery using low-cost active materials, zinc and benzoquinone, which was scaled up to 1600 cm2, resulting in one of the largest of its type reported in the literature. The charge–discharge cycling of the battery was compared at different sizes and current densities, and its performance was evaluated under various mass transport and operating conditions. The results showed that the round-trip coulombic and voltage efficiencies were over 90% and 85%, respectively, for the laboratory-scale (1 cm2 electrode) cell, but these performances tended to deteriorate with the scaled-up (1600 cm2 electrode) cell due to inadequate mass transfer and sediment coverage of quinone, as well as the formation of a passivation film on the zinc anode. Despite this, the scaled-up batteries exhibited high coulombic and voltage efficiencies of up to 99% and 68.5%, respectively, at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. The capital cost of this system is also estimated to be several times lower than those of commercially available all-vanadium flow batteries and zinc bromide flow batteries for demand charge management applications.

Voltage and Overpotential Prediction of Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries with Artificial Neural Networks

“…Moreover, VRFB systems exhibit noteworthy characteristics in terms of cyclability, energy efficiency, response Batteries 2024, 10, 23 2 of 15 time, safe operation, remarkable energy storage capability, and incorporating readily recyclable components to minimize overall costs over the system lifetime [11,[13][14][15][16][17]. This sets them apart from other RFB technologies, such as zinc-based chemistries, which present hydrogen evolution in charging, dendrite formation, and uneven metal deposition, which then lead to cell failure [3,18,19]. Organic-based RFBs have gained attention for their use of abundant, non-expensive organic compounds, but they still face challenges arising from cycling stability and reactant decomposition [6,20,21].…”