Zinc/Bromine Flow Battery (eBook)

Professor Tony Vassallo holds the Delta Electricity Chair in Sustainable Energy Development at the University of Sydney, in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. He took up this position in October 2008. Prior to this, he held the position of Senior Principal Research Scientist with the Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation, followed by a period of consultancy to industry and government in the field of sustainable energy technology. Tony has over 90 fully refereed papers in international journals and 8 patents, 6 of which are US or other international patents. His published work has been cited over 3000 times, and has a h-index of 31. He is the leader of the $13M Future Grid Research Cluster and Chief Investigator of the ARC Linkage project “New High Performance Zinc Bromine Batteries with Novel Electrode/Electrolyte Systems”. He is a past President of the Australian Institute of Energy, leader of the Clean Energy Research Cluster in the Faculty of Engineering and leader of the Energy Storage Research Network at the University of Sydney.Gobinath Pillai Rajarathnam is a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Sustainable Energy Development at the University of Sydney, in the School of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering. His current research utilises electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and computational fluid dynamics to study and improve flow battery systems via novel materials and design. Prior to this, he worked internationally as a consulting engineer, carrying out probabilistic risk and safety studies for oil/gas and chemical industries. Gobinath has a B.Eng. (Hons. I) in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from Sydney University. His awards include the Sydney University Dean’s List of Excellence in Academic Performance in 2008, the Bruce Choy Prize for 4th Year Chemical Engineering (shared) in 2011 and the Australian Postgraduate Award in 2014.

Preface 7
Acknowledgments 9
Contents 10
List of Figures 12
List of Tables 18
Abbreviations 19
1 Storing Electricity 20
Abstract 20
1.1 Energy Storage and Flow Batteries 20
1.2 Current Status of Zn/Br Systems 21
1.3 The Future of Zn/Br RFB Research 23
1.4 Organization of this Book 24
References 24
2 Description of the Zn/Br RFB System 29
Abstract 29
2.1 Physical Architecture 29
2.2 Electrolyte Composition 30
2.3 Zn/Br Electrode Reactions 35
2.3.1 The Zinc-Side Electrode 35
2.3.2 The Bromine-Side Electrode 35
2.3.3 Overall Battery Reaction 36
2.4 Bromine Storage, Treatment and Toxicity 37
2.5 Membrane Separator 38
2.6 Accurate Determination of SoC 39
2.7 Maximizing Practical Specific Energy of the System 42
2.8 Moving from Bench Scale to Large/Utility Scale 42
References 43
3 Revisiting Zinc-Side Electrochemistry 47
Abstract 47
3.1 The Case for Carbon-Based Electrodes 47
3.2 Zinc-Side Electrode Kinetics and Mechanisms 52
3.3 Boosting Electrode Processes Via Catalysis 57
References 59
4 Zinc Electrodeposition Morphology 62
Abstract 62
4.1 Battery Performance Issues Due to Dendrite Formation 62
4.2 Organic Additives as Functional Zinc Electroplating Agents 67
4.3 Alternative Dendrite Control Strategies 74
References 76
5 Bromine-Side Electrode Functionality 80
Abstract 80
5.1 Br2/Br-- Electrode Kinetics and Mechanisms 80
5.2 Redox Catalysis and Electrode Functionalization 87
References 94
6 Strategies for Studying and Improving the Zn/Br RFB 97
Abstract 97
6.1 Studies of Fundamental Physical and Electrochemical Processes 97
6.2 Roles and Suitability of EIS as a Tool for Studying and Improving the ZBB 101
6.3 Development of ``Smart'' Multifunctional Electrodes 103
6.4 Addressing Non-uniformity of Zinc Deposition and De-plating 106
6.5 Utilizing Maximum Energy Storage Capacity of Zn/Br Systems 107
6.6 Conclusions and Outlook for Zn/Br RFB Technology 110
References 111