A cost-effective nafion/lignin composite membrane with low vanadium ion permeation for high performance vanadium redox flow battery

Co3O4@Co3S4 core-shell neuroid network for high cycle-stability hybrid-supercapacitors

Given the urgency of climate change mitigation, it is crucial to increase the practical utilization of renewable energy. However, high uncertainty and large fluctuation of variable renewable energy create enormous challenges to increasing the penetration of renewable energy. Various energy storage technologies have been applied to renewable energy to handle the fluctuation and uncertainty problem. To enrich the knowledge about the effects of energy storage technologies, this paper performs a comprehensive overview of the applications of various energy storage technologies and evaluates their capabilities of mitigating the fluctuation and uncertainty of renewable energy. The main techno-economic characteristics of the energy storage technologies, including: super-conducting magnetic energy storage, flywheel energy storage, redox flow batteries, compressed air energy storage, pump hydro storage and lithium-ion batteries, are analyzed. Moreover, supercapacitor storage, sodium‑sulfur batteries, lead-acid batteries and nickel‑cadmium batteries are also discussed in this study. 

Application of energy storage in integrated energy systems — A solution to fluctuation and uncertainty of renewable energy

Zinc-based flow batteries have gained widespread attention and are considered to be one of the most promising large-scale energy storage devices for increasing the utilization of intermittently sustainable energy. However, the formation of zinc dendrites at anodes has seriously depressed their cycling life, security, coulombic efficiency, and charging capacity. Inhibition of zinc dendrites is thus the bottleneck to further improving the performance of zinc-based flow batteries, but it remains a major challenge. Considering recent developments, this mini review analyzes the formation mechanism and growth process of zinc dendrites and presents and summarizes the strategies for preventing zinc dendrites by regulating the interfaces between anodes and electrolytes. Four typical strategies, namely electrolyte modification, anode engineering, electric field regulation, and ion transfer control, are comprehensively highlighted. Finally, remaining challenges and promising directions are outlined and anticipated for zinc dendrites in zinc-based flow batteries.

/pdf/inhibition-of-zinc-dendrites-in-zinc-based-flow-batteries-5fuv8xlco9.pdf

Inhibition of zinc dendrites in zinc-based flow batteries

Application of Nanomaterials in Aqueous Redox Flow Batteries

Ion exchange membranes play a key role in all vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). The mostly available commercial membrane for VRFBs is Nafion. However, its disadvantages, such as high cost and severe vanadium-ion permeation, become obstacles for large-scale energy storage. It is thus crucial to develop an efficient membrane with low permeability of vanadium ions and low cost to promote commercial applications of VRFBs. In this study, graphene oxide (GO) has been employed as an additive to the Nafion 212 matrix and a composite membrane named rN212/GO obtained. The thickness of rN212/GO has been reduced to only 41 μm (compared with 50 μm Nafion 212), which indicates directly lower cost. Meanwhile, rN212/GO shows lower permeability of vanadium ions and area-specific resistance compared to the Nafion 212 membrane due to the abundant oxygen-containing functional groups of GO additives. The VRFB cells with the rN212/GO membrane show higher Coulombic efficiencies and lower capacity decay than those of VRFB cells with the Nafion 212 membrane. Therefore, the cost-effective rN212/GO composite membrane is a promising alternative to suppress migration of vanadium ions across the membrane to set up VRFB cells with better performances.

Yuesheng Yu

Papers

A Cost-effective Nafion Composite Membrane as an Effective Vanadium-Ion Barrier for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries.

Functionalized carbon black modified sulfonated polyether ether ketone membrane for highly stable vanadium redox flow battery