Flow Battery for Large Scale Energy Storage

To accelerate the wider utilization of renewable energies is an extremely important strategy to achieve carbon neutralization. Nowadays, the electrochemical energy storage technologies, which can overcome the intermittence and instability of renewable energies, are receiving more and more attention. Among various electrochemical energy storage technologies, flow batteries exhibit outstanding features such as independently tunable power and energy, high safety, high efficiency, long lifespan and great environmental benignity, very suited for large-scale and user-side energy storage applications. Currently, flow battery energy storage technology has been at the initial commercialization stage. However, the energy density and cost of flow batteries have not yet fully met the market demands, limiting the realization of their commercialization and industrialization goals. To this end, it is crucial to design and optimize the structure of key materials for flow batteries and develop new flow battery systems with high energy density and low cost. Therefore, this report will introduce the research and development of flow battery energy storage technology in detail and provide an outlook for its future development.<br/><b>References</b><br/>[1] Zhao Z.Z., Liu X.H., Zhang M.Q., Zhang L.Y., Zhang C.K., Li X.F., Yu G.H. Development of flow battery technologies using the principles of sustainable chemistry. Chemical Society Reviews, 52, 6031-6074 (2023).<br/>[2] Zhang Y.H., Li F., Li T.Y., Zhang M.Q., Yuan Z.Z., Hou G.J., Fu J., Zhang C.K., Li X.F. Insights into an air-stable methylene blue catholyte towards kW-scale practical aqueous organic flow batteries. Energy & Environmental Science, 16, 231-240 (2023).<br/>[3] Zhi L.P., Liao C.Y., Xu P.C., Sun F.S., Yuan C.G., Fan F.T., Li G.H., Yuan Z.Z., Li X.F. An artificial &lt;!--![endif]----&gt;bridge between the anode and the anolyte enabled by an organic ligand for sustainable zinc-based flow batteries. Energy & Environmental Science, 17, 717-726 (2024).