MSCA Doctoral Network-Industrial Doctorates: electrolyte thermodynamics investigation for all iron redox flow battery development

Li-ion batteries are increasingly being used for energy storage applications due to their versatility, efficiency, and ability to store and release electricity. However, Li-ion based batteries still have many disadvantages, for example, high costs of the raw materials, safety issues, and limited Li resources in the earth. Therefore, many researchers try to utilize high energy density flow battery to replace Li-ion battery in large scale energy storage. Flow battery is an electrochemical energy storage system that stores electrical energy in chemical form by using two liquid electrolytes stored in separate tanks. These electrolytes are pumped through a reaction cell, where they undergo electrochemical reactions, generating electricity. Unlike conventional batteries, where the energy is stored in solid materials like electrodes, flow batteries store energy in liquid form. This design allows for scalability and long cycle life (> 30 years or > 20000 charge/discharge cycle), making flow batteries suitable for a wide range of applications, including renewable energy integration, grid energy storage, and backup power systems. Due to low energy density, flow battery is normally utilized as stationary large scale energy storage. However, mang researchers in the world is trying to develop high energy density flow batteries using non-aqueous electrolyte for energy storage. Therefore, this project aims to develop high energy density flow battery using no-aqueous electrolyte for energy storage. In this project, we will produce a novel non-aqueous electrolyte based all iron flow battery for energy storage application. Our non-aqueous electrolyte flow battery’s energy density is around 8 times as high as conventional aqueous electrolyte flow battery. This energy density is very close to energy density of Li-ion battery. Therefore, this high energy density non-aqueous electrolyte based flow battery has the potential to utilize in energy storage.