Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries
© The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. All rights reserved. Nonaqueous redox flow batteries (NAqRFBs) are a promising, but nascent, concept for cost-effective grid-scale energy storage. While most studies report new active molecules and proof-of-concept prototypes, few discuss cell design. The dire...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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The Electrochemical Society
2021
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134706 |
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author | Milshtein, Jarrod D Barton, John L Carney, Thomas J Kowalski, Jeffrey A Darling, Robert M Brushett, Fikile R |
author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering |
author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering Milshtein, Jarrod D Barton, John L Carney, Thomas J Kowalski, Jeffrey A Darling, Robert M Brushett, Fikile R |
author_sort | Milshtein, Jarrod D |
collection | MIT |
description | © The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. All rights reserved. Nonaqueous redox flow batteries (NAqRFBs) are a promising, but nascent, concept for cost-effective grid-scale energy storage. While most studies report new active molecules and proof-of-concept prototypes, few discuss cell design. The direct translation of aqueous RFB design principles to nonaqueous systems is hampered by a lack of materials-specific knowledge, especially concerning the increased viscosities and decreased conductivities associated with nonaqueous electrolytes. To guide NAqRFB reactor design, recent techno-economic analyses have established an area specific resistance (ASR) target of <5 Ω cm2. Here, we employ a state-of-the-art vanadium flow cell architecture, modified for compatibility with nonaqueous electrolytes, and a model ferrocene-based redox couple to investigate the feasibility of achieving this target ASR. We identify and minimize sources of resistive loss for various active species concentrations, electrolyte compositions, flow rates, separators, and electrode thicknesses via polarization and impedance spectroscopy, culminating in the demonstration of a cell ASR of ca. 1.7 Ω cm2. Further, we validate performance scalability using dynamically similar cells with a ten-fold difference in active areas. This work demonstrates that, with appropriate cell engineering, low resistance nonaqueous reactors can be realized, providing promise for the cost-competitiveness of future NAqRFBs. |
first_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:19:19Z |
format | Article |
id | mit-1721.1/134706 |
institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-09-23T10:19:19Z |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | The Electrochemical Society |
record_format | dspace |
spelling | mit-1721.1/1347062023-09-28T19:49:24Z Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries Milshtein, Jarrod D Barton, John L Carney, Thomas J Kowalski, Jeffrey A Darling, Robert M Brushett, Fikile R Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering © The Author(s) 2017. Published by ECS. All rights reserved. Nonaqueous redox flow batteries (NAqRFBs) are a promising, but nascent, concept for cost-effective grid-scale energy storage. While most studies report new active molecules and proof-of-concept prototypes, few discuss cell design. The direct translation of aqueous RFB design principles to nonaqueous systems is hampered by a lack of materials-specific knowledge, especially concerning the increased viscosities and decreased conductivities associated with nonaqueous electrolytes. To guide NAqRFB reactor design, recent techno-economic analyses have established an area specific resistance (ASR) target of <5 Ω cm2. Here, we employ a state-of-the-art vanadium flow cell architecture, modified for compatibility with nonaqueous electrolytes, and a model ferrocene-based redox couple to investigate the feasibility of achieving this target ASR. We identify and minimize sources of resistive loss for various active species concentrations, electrolyte compositions, flow rates, separators, and electrode thicknesses via polarization and impedance spectroscopy, culminating in the demonstration of a cell ASR of ca. 1.7 Ω cm2. Further, we validate performance scalability using dynamically similar cells with a ten-fold difference in active areas. This work demonstrates that, with appropriate cell engineering, low resistance nonaqueous reactors can be realized, providing promise for the cost-competitiveness of future NAqRFBs. 2021-10-27T20:08:46Z 2021-10-27T20:08:46Z 2017 2019-08-15T13:38:26Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134706 en 10.1149/2.0741712JES Journal of The Electrochemical Society Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ application/pdf The Electrochemical Society Electrochemical Society (ECS) |
spellingShingle | Milshtein, Jarrod D Barton, John L Carney, Thomas J Kowalski, Jeffrey A Darling, Robert M Brushett, Fikile R Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries |
title | Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries |
title_full | Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries |
title_fullStr | Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries |
title_full_unstemmed | Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries |
title_short | Towards Low Resistance Nonaqueous Redox Flow Batteries |
title_sort | towards low resistance nonaqueous redox flow batteries |
url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/134706 |
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