Title: Vanadium redox Flow batteries: overcoming drawbacks and emerging technologies

Time: 2022-11-24         16：00~17：00

Venue: Institute for Energy Research, 1517 + Tencent Meeting (260-676-458)

Organizer: Institute for Energy Research

Research Profile:

Dr. Cristina Flox obtained her PhD (Excellent Cum Laude, European Mention) in 2008 at Barcelona University (Spain). She has acquired significant research experience in a wide range of electrochemical technologies, from design materials to engineering prototypes, including new strategies for testing the device’s performance. The transition from developing electrochemical flow reactors from wastewater treatment applications to developing flow batteries systems (IREC Catalonia Institute for Energy Research, Spain) has provided her with a highly specialized research profile. Her work is focused on and is targeted at the development of high-performance energy storage systems relevant in different market sectors and applications. Particularly, she has been dealing with Redox Flow batteries systems since 2010, developing novel electrochemical materials and new insights of the cell engineering design. She is currently a Senior Scientific Researcher at Institut de Ciencia de Materials de Barcelona, CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), Spain. Additionally, Dr. Flox has established a strong network worldwide, allowing her an international recognition through the participation of a high number of international/national conferences as both invited speaker and chair. She has co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal publications in high-ranked journals of the energy field with more than 4,050 citations (H-Index=33), together with several book chapters.

Abstract

Redox Flow batteries (RFB) are an appealing electrochemical energy storage, which is considered the most promising technology for energy grids. The working principle of the RFB is significantly different from conventional batteries, providing outstanding and unique key advantages.  Therefore, early chemistries of RFBs, i.e. vanadium and zinc-based batteries have been successfully implemented in various sites globally, demonstrating to be a new frontier on energy storage. Particularly, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB) market is still increasing and is expected to reach up to US$ 687.1 million towards 2026 – US$ 171.9 million in 2021 with 209.8 MWh of energy capacity installed. However, the current technology presents some drawbacks like low power density values (poor electrocatalytic activity of the electrodes) and hydrogen evolution reaction. Herein, several strategies to overcome these problems are presented. Finally, photo-chargeable batteries are emerging as a new cost-effective approach quite promising for the integration of solar renewable energy. However, the technology is hampered by low efficiencies and “extra” potential for charging the battery. In this regard, the design of several configurations using different materials will be presented, obtaining results quite encouraging towards the realization of the solar-charged -VRFB.