New flow battery could offer solution for large-scale energy storage

With the increase in renewable energy production, the storage of this energy started to gain importance. To avoid some of the downsides of large-scale storage with existing technologies, the researchers designed a new flow battery.

Large-scale testing required to determine commercial viability

Large-scale storage is required to ensure the continuity of electricity grids by generating energy from renewable sources. Flow batteries, which store electricity in a liquid, are seen as a solution in this regard, but these batteries contain rare metals and are expensive. Flow batteries consist of a special membrane in which two different solutions are located in different tanks and separate these solutions from each other.

University of Groningen researchers have developed a new method that can solve two problems of current flow batteries. Instead of the vanadium used in flow batteries, the researchers not only used an organic molecule, but also designed a symmetrical flow battery in which the same liquid was housed in both tanks.

The research team used a Blatter radical, a bipolar organic compound that can accept or lose an electron in a redox reaction, in a battery they developed. Testing the compound in a small electrochemical cell showed stability over 275 charge/discharge cycles.

Team, They say it is possible to make a battery with symmetrical flow with good stability, but the next step is to create a water-soluble version of the Blatter radicals. Increasing the stability and solubility of the Blatter radical will be tested on a larger scale to see if it will be stable enough for commercial applications.