IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i18p5643-d631354.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Redox Flow Batteries: Materials, Design and Prospects

Author

Listed:
  • Igor Iwakiri

    (Vasco da Gama CoLAB—Energy Storage, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
    LEPABE—Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
    The authors I.I. and T.A. contributed equally to the manuscript.)

  • Tiago Antunes

    (Vasco da Gama CoLAB—Energy Storage, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
    LEPABE—Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
    The authors I.I. and T.A. contributed equally to the manuscript.)

  • Helena Almeida

    (LEPABE—Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • João P. Sousa

    (Vasco da Gama CoLAB—Energy Storage, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Rita Bacelar Figueira

    (Vasco da Gama CoLAB—Energy Storage, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

  • Adélio Mendes

    (LEPABE—Laboratory for Process Engineering, Environment, Biotechnology and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal)

Abstract

The implementation of renewable energy sources is rapidly growing in the electrical sector. This is a major step for civilization since it will reduce the carbon footprint and ensure a sustainable future. Nevertheless, these sources of energy are far from perfect and require complementary technologies to ensure dispatchable energy and this requires storage. In the last few decades, redox flow batteries (RFB) have been revealed to be an interesting alternative for this application, mainly due to their versatility and scalability. This technology has been the focus of intense research and great advances in the last decade. This review aims to summarize the most relevant advances achieved in the last few years, i.e., from 2015 until the middle of 2021. A synopsis of the different types of RFB technology will be conducted. Particular attention will be given to vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), the most mature RFB technology, but also to the emerging most promising chemistries. An in-depth review will be performed regarding the main innovations, materials, and designs. The main drawbacks and future perspectives for this technology will also be addressed.

Suggested Citation

  • Igor Iwakiri & Tiago Antunes & Helena Almeida & João P. Sousa & Rita Bacelar Figueira & Adélio Mendes, 2021. "Redox Flow Batteries: Materials, Design and Prospects," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-45, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:18:p:5643-:d:631354
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5643/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/18/5643/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peng Bai & Martin Z. Bazant, 2014. "Charge transfer kinetics at the solid–solid interface in porous electrodes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, May.
    2. Nak Heon Choi & Diego del Olmo & Diego Milian & Nadia El Kissi & Peter Fischer & Karsten Pinkwart & Jens Tübke, 2020. "Use of Carbon Additives towards Rechargeable Zinc Slurry Air Flow Batteries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-12, August.
    3. Wen Yan & Caixing Wang & Jiaqi Tian & Guoyin Zhu & Lianbo Ma & Yanrong Wang & Renpeng Chen & Yi Hu & Lei Wang & Tao Chen & Jing Ma & Zhong Jin, 2019. "All-polymer particulate slurry batteries," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    4. Bamgbopa, Musbaudeen O. & Almheiri, Saif & Sun, Hong, 2017. "Prospects of recently developed membraneless cell designs for redox flow batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 506-518.
    5. Chakrabarti, Mohammed Harun & Mjalli, Farouq Sabri & AlNashef, Inas Muen & Hashim, Mohd. Ali & Hussain, Mohd. Azlan & Bahadori, Laleh & Low, Chee Tong John, 2014. "Prospects of applying ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents for renewable energy storage by means of redox flow batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 254-270.
    6. Aaron Hollas & Xiaoliang Wei & Vijayakumar Murugesan & Zimin Nie & Bin Li & David Reed & Jun Liu & Vincent Sprenkle & Wei Wang, 2018. "A biomimetic high-capacity phenazine-based anolyte for aqueous organic redox flow batteries," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(6), pages 508-514, June.
    7. Wei, L. & Zhao, T.S. & Zeng, L. & Zhou, X.L. & Zeng, Y.K., 2016. "Copper nanoparticle-deposited graphite felt electrodes for all vanadium redox flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 386-391.
    8. Choi, Chanyong & Kim, Soohyun & Kim, Riyul & Choi, Yunsuk & Kim, Soowhan & Jung, Ho-young & Yang, Jung Hoon & Kim, Hee-Tak, 2017. "A review of vanadium electrolytes for vanadium redox flow batteries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 263-274.
    9. Arenas, Luis F. & Loh, Adeline & Trudgeon, David P. & Li, Xiaohong & Ponce de León, Carlos & Walsh, Frank C., 2018. "The characteristics and performance of hybrid redox flow batteries with zinc negative electrodes for energy storage," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 992-1016.
    10. Alejandro Clemente & Ramon Costa-Castelló, 2020. "Redox Flow Batteries: A Literature Review Oriented to Automatic Control," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-31, September.
    11. Sangeetha, Thangavel & Chen, Po-Tuan & Yan, Wei-Mon & Huang, K. David, 2020. "Enhancement of air-flow management in Zn-air fuel cells by the optimization of air-flow parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    12. Pei, Pucheng & Huang, Shangwei & Chen, Dongfang & Li, Yuehua & Wu, Ziyao & Ren, Peng & Wang, Keliang & Jia, Xiaoning, 2019. "A high-energy-density and long-stable-performance zinc-air fuel cell system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 241(C), pages 124-129.
    13. Alotto, Piergiorgio & Guarnieri, Massimo & Moro, Federico, 2014. "Redox flow batteries for the storage of renewable energy: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 325-335.
    14. Liao, Weineng & Jiang, Fengjing & Zhang, Yue & Zhou, Xinjie & He, Zongqi, 2020. "Highly-conductive composite bipolar plate based on ternary carbon materials and its performance in redox flow batteries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1310-1316.
    15. Zhang, Z.H. & Wei, L. & Wu, M.C. & Bai, B.F. & Zhao, T.S., 2021. "Chloride ions as an electrolyte additive for high performance vanadium redox flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 289(C).
    16. Xu, Zhicheng & Fan, Qi & Li, Yang & Wang, Jun & Lund, Peter D., 2020. "Review of zinc dendrite formation in zinc bromine redox flow battery," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Snigdha Saha & Kranthi Kumar Maniam & Shiladitya Paul & Venkata Suresh Patnaikuni, 2023. "Hydrodynamic and Electrochemical Analysis of Compression and Flow Field Designs in Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-33, August.
    2. Kalina Detka & Krzysztof Górecki, 2023. "Selected Technologies of Electrochemical Energy Storage—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-36, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anatoly Antipov & Roman Pichugov & Lilia Abunaeva & Shengfu Tong & Mikhail Petrov & Alla Pustovalova & Ivan Speshilov & Natalia Kartashova & Pavel Loktionov & Alexander Modestov & Artem Glazkov, 2022. "Halogen Hybrid Flow Batteries Advances for Stationary Chemical Power Sources Technologies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Argyrou, Maria C. & Christodoulides, Paul & Kalogirou, Soteris A., 2018. "Energy storage for electricity generation and related processes: Technologies appraisal and grid scale applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 804-821.
    3. José Manuel Andújar & Francisca Segura & Jesús Rey & Francisco José Vivas, 2022. "Batteries and Hydrogen Storage: Technical Analysis and Commercial Revision to Select the Best Option," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-32, August.
    4. Eapen, Deepa Elizabeth & Suresh, Resmi & Patil, Sairaj & Rengaswamy, Raghunathan, 2021. "A systems engineering perspective on electrochemical energy technologies and a framework for application driven choice of technology," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    5. Abdul Ghani Olabi & Enas Taha Sayed & Tabbi Wilberforce & Aisha Jamal & Abdul Hai Alami & Khaled Elsaid & Shek Mohammod Atiqure Rahman & Sheikh Khaleduzzaman Shah & Mohammad Ali Abdelkareem, 2021. "Metal-Air Batteries—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-46, November.
    6. Iñigo Aramendia & Unai Fernandez-Gamiz & Adrian Martinez-San-Vicente & Ekaitz Zulueta & Jose Manuel Lopez-Guede, 2020. "Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries: A Review Oriented to Fluid-Dynamic Optimization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Edison Banguero & Antonio Correcher & Ángel Pérez-Navarro & Francisco Morant & Andrés Aristizabal, 2018. "A Review on Battery Charging and Discharging Control Strategies: Application to Renewable Energy Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, April.
    8. Liang, Mengjun & Karthick, Ramalingam & Wei, Qiang & Dai, Jinhong & Jiang, Zhuosheng & Chen, Xuncai & Oo, Than Zaw & Aung, Su Htike & Chen, Fuming, 2022. "The progress and prospect of the solar-driven photoelectrochemical desalination," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    9. Wang, Tao & Fu, Jiahui & Zheng, Menglian & Yu, Zitao, 2018. "Dynamic control strategy for the electrolyte flow rate of vanadium redox flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 613-623.
    10. Guarnieri, Massimo & Trovò, Andrea & D'Anzi, Angelo & Alotto, Piergiorgio, 2018. "Developing vanadium redox flow technology on a 9-kW 26-kWh industrial scale test facility: Design review and early experiments," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 230(C), pages 1425-1434.
    11. Zhang, Yunong & Liu, Le & Xi, Jingyu & Wu, Zenghua & Qiu, Xinping, 2017. "The benefits and limitations of electrolyte mixing in vanadium flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 373-381.
    12. Abbas Mardani & Ahmad Jusoh & Edmundas Kazimieras Zavadskas & Fausto Cavallaro & Zainab Khalifah, 2015. "Sustainable and Renewable Energy: An Overview of the Application of Multiple Criteria Decision Making Techniques and Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(10), pages 1-38, October.
    13. Simon, Benedict A. & Gayon-Lombardo, Andrea & Pino-Muñoz, Catalina A. & Wood, Charles E. & Tenny, Kevin M. & Greco, Katharine V. & Cooper, Samuel J. & Forner-Cuenca, Antoni & Brushett, Fikile R. & Kuc, 2022. "Combining electrochemical and imaging analyses to understand the effect of electrode microstructure and electrolyte properties on redox flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 306(PB).
    14. Zakeri, Behnam & Syri, Sanna, 2015. "Electrical energy storage systems: A comparative life cycle cost analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 569-596.
    15. Chen, Dongfang & Pan, Lyuming & Pei, Pucheng & Huang, Shangwei & Ren, Peng & Song, Xin, 2021. "Carbon-coated oxygen vacancies-rich Co3O4 nanoarrays grow on nickel foam as efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts for rechargeable zinc-air batteries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
    16. Wang, Yifei & Luo, Shijing & Kwok, Holly Y.H. & Pan, Wending & Zhang, Yingguang & Zhao, Xiaolong & Leung, Dennis Y.C., 2021. "Microfluidic fuel cells with different types of fuels: A prospective review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    17. Bhattarai, Arjun & Wai, Nyunt & Schweiss, Rüdiger & Whitehead, Adam & Scherer, Günther G. & Ghimire, Purna C. & Lim, Tuti M. & Hng, Huey Hoon, 2019. "Vanadium redox flow battery with slotted porous electrodes and automatic rebalancing demonstrated on a 1 kW system level," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 236(C), pages 437-443.
    18. Xie, Heping & Wu, Yifan & Liu, Tao & Wang, Fuhuan & Chen, Bin & Liang, Bin, 2020. "Low-energy-consumption electrochemical CO2 capture driven by biomimetic phenazine derivatives redox medium," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    19. Wei, L. & Zeng, L. & Wu, M.C. & Fan, X.Z. & Zhao, T.S., 2019. "Seawater as an alternative to deionized water for electrolyte preparations in vanadium redox flow batteries," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    20. Jha, Sunil Kr. & Bilalovic, Jasmin & Jha, Anju & Patel, Nilesh & Zhang, Han, 2017. "Renewable energy: Present research and future scope of Artificial Intelligence," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 297-317.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:18:p:5643-:d:631354. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.