Issue 7, 2021

Trust is good, control is better: a review on monitoring and characterization techniques for flow battery electrolytes

Abstract

Flow batteries (FBs) currently are one of the most promising large-scale energy storage technologies for energy grids with a large share of renewable electricity generation. Among the main technological challenges for the economic operation of a large-scale battery technology is its calendar lifetime, which ideally has to cover a few decades without significant loss of performance. This requirement can only be met if the key parameters representing the performance losses of the system are continuously monitored and optimized during the operation. Nearly all performance parameters of a FB are related to the two electrolytes as the electrochemical storage media and we therefore focus on them in this review. We first survey the literature on the available characterization methods for the key FB electrolyte parameters. Based on these, we comprehensively review the currently available approaches for assessing the most important electrolyte state variables: the state-of-charge (SOC) and the state-of-health (SOH). We furthermore discuss how monitoring and operation strategies are commonly implemented as online tools to optimize the electrolyte performance and recover lost battery capacity as well as how their automation is realized via battery management systems (BMSs). Our key findings on the current state of this research field are finally highlighted and the potential for further progress is identified.

Graphical abstract: Trust is good, control is better: a review on monitoring and characterization techniques for flow battery electrolytes

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
12 10月 2020
Accepted
08 2月 2021
First published
09 2月 2021

Mater. Horiz., 2021,8, 1866-1925

Trust is good, control is better: a review on monitoring and characterization techniques for flow battery electrolytes

O. Nolte, I. A. Volodin, C. Stolze, M. D. Hager and U. S. Schubert, Mater. Horiz., 2021, 8, 1866 DOI: 10.1039/D0MH01632B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements