HIGH-POWER AQUEOUS REDOX FLOW BATTERIES FOR ENERGY STORAGE

Abstract

The penetration of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, has rapidly escalated in recent years. Advanced electrical energy storage systems are thus urgently needed to buffer the temporal deviation in renewable energy production and consumption. Various battery technologies have been employed for electricity storage, and aqueous redox flow battery (ARFB) is regarded as a promising candidate for large-scale application. However, one of the most critical shortcomings of ARFBs is the considerably poor power performance. The unsatisfactory power density would ultimately raise the size and amount of cell stacks required, increasing cost of the entire RFB systems. The main objective of this thesis work is to explore next-generation high-power aqueous RFBs for energy storage applications and beyond. Revolving around this goal, both intrinsic and extrinsic factors were investigated and optimized to unlock the full power performance of ARFBs.