Assessing damage to graphite electrodes in bromine redox flow battery systems

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A crucial metric in harvesting renewable and intermittent power resources is widely understood to be the ability to, and cost effectiveness of, storing energy. Large chemical systems, such as Redox Flow Batteries (RFBs), are a prime candidate for filling this gap in the energy market; the greatest barrier to realizing this technology on a massive scale resides with being able to extend their cycle life capacity and improve on the performance stability over the entire service duration. Therefore, it becomes critical to assess the degradation rates and ultimately the cost for operating these devices. We investigate the degradation and stabilization mechanisms of electrodes in an aqueous bromine system as it currently pertains to several commercially available batteries (available from ZBB Energy, Primus Power, RedFlow, and others). Further, the broad electrochemical potential window intrinsic to this particular redox couple suggests that a chemistry to stabilize electrode surfaces within this system can extend to other chemistries, e.g., the all-vanadium and iron based redox flow battery chemistries.

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Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 3, Nanotechnology 2014: Electronics, Manufacturing, Environment, Energy & Water
Published: June 15, 2014
Pages: 458 - 461
Industry sectors: Advanced Materials & Manufacturing | Energy & Sustainability
Topic: Energy Storage
ISBN: 978-1-4822-5830-1