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A cost-effective alkaline polysulfide-air redox flow battery enabled by a dual-membrane cell architecture

Author

Listed:
  • Yuhua Xia

    (Imperial College London)

  • Mengzheng Ouyang

    (Imperial College London)

  • Vladimir Yufit

    (Imperial College London
    Addionics Ltd., Imperial White City Incubator)

  • Rui Tan

    (Imperial College London)

  • Anna Regoutz

    (University College London)

  • Anqi Wang

    (Imperial College London)

  • Wenjie Mao

    (Imperial College London)

  • Barun Chakrabarti

    (Imperial College London
    University of Warwick)

  • Ashkan Kavei

    (Imperial College London
    RFC Power Ltd., Imperial White City Incubator)

  • Qilei Song

    (Imperial College London)

  • Anthony R. Kucernak

    (RFC Power Ltd., Imperial White City Incubator
    Imperial College London)

  • Nigel P. Brandon

    (Imperial College London
    RFC Power Ltd., Imperial White City Incubator)

Abstract

With the rapid development of renewable energy harvesting technologies, there is a significant demand for long-duration energy storage technologies that can be deployed at grid scale. In this regard, polysulfide-air redox flow batteries demonstrated great potential. However, the crossover of polysulfide is one significant challenge. Here, we report a stable and cost-effective alkaline-based hybrid polysulfide-air redox flow battery where a dual-membrane-structured flow cell design mitigates the sulfur crossover issue. Moreover, combining manganese/carbon catalysed air electrodes with sulfidised Ni foam polysulfide electrodes, the redox flow battery achieves a maximum power density of 5.8 mW cm−2 at 50% state of charge and 55 °C. An average round-trip energy efficiency of 40% is also achieved over 80 cycles at 1 mA cm−2. Based on the performance reported, techno-economic analyses suggested that energy and power costs of about 2.5 US$/kWh and 1600 US$/kW, respectively, has be achieved for this type of alkaline polysulfide-air redox flow battery, with significant scope for further reduction.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuhua Xia & Mengzheng Ouyang & Vladimir Yufit & Rui Tan & Anna Regoutz & Anqi Wang & Wenjie Mao & Barun Chakrabarti & Ashkan Kavei & Qilei Song & Anthony R. Kucernak & Nigel P. Brandon, 2022. "A cost-effective alkaline polysulfide-air redox flow battery enabled by a dual-membrane cell architecture," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30044-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30044-w
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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