Flow Batteries: The Future of Large-Scale Electricity Storage?

Dear Colleagues,

Storing electric energy at a large scale has become increasingly crucial in the use of sustainable but intermittent solar or wind power. Pumped hydropower rules the market with a ca. 90% share, while batteries have been a marginal competitor due their high cost. Among batteries, Li-ion batteries are leading in storage capacity, and lead-acid batteries come in second. Flow batteries constitute only a marginal share in the global battery market, but have recently received increasing interest because of recent EU H2020 calls, among other factors.

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) provide an alternative to Li-ion batteries, but due to their relatively low energy density, their use is limited to some niche areas where the space needed for electrolyte storage tanks is not limiting. Current RFB technology is mainly based on Vanadium, which is not available in vast amounts and is needed in the steel industry. Additionally, Vanadium RFBs suffer from corrosion problems and an unfavorable environmental impact. Therefore, new redox chemistry is needed which could, for example, be combined with photochemistry to make a hybrid battery. Low-grade heat energy that is available in industry can be utilized to warm up the electrolyte, which could offer another example of a hybrid system.

The scope of this Special Issue is to find new chemistries for RFBs and estimate their economic viability, environmental impact, and application areas. Energy issues are seldom solely techno-economical, but (national) regulations, legislation, and taxation play a central role in assessing the viability of an energy solution. Furthermore, various elements (e.g., rare earth metals or Cobalt) are critical in terms of their availability due to geographical or political reasons. Hence, all these aspects must be considered when designing a large-scale energy storage system.

Multidisciplinary papers are especially welcome.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• New redox couples for RFBs; kinetics, stability.
• Membranes and separators in RFBs.
• Increasing the energy density of RFBs; solubility of redox couples.
• Abundance and availability of materials; critical elements.
• Economic viability of RFBs; CAPEX, OPEX.
• Environmental impact, life-cycle analysis.
• Scaling up.
• Application areas; peak shaving, load leveling.

Prof. Dr. Lasse Murtomäki
Guest Editor

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