Capacity Decay Mechanism of Microporous Separator-Based All-Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries and its Recovery

Journal Article · Tue Oct 29 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · ChemSusChem

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.201300706· OSTI ID:1136600

Li, Bin; Luo, Qingtao; Wei, Xiaoliang; Nie, Zimin; Thomsen, Edwin; Chen, Baowei; Sprenkle, Vincent; Wang, Wei

For all vanadium redox flow batteries (VRBs) with porous separators as membranes, convection effect is found to play a dominant role in the capacity decay of the cells over cycling by investigating the relationship between electrical performances and electrolyte compositions at both positive and negative sides. Although the concentration of total vanadium ions hardly changes at both sides over cycling, the net transfer of solutions from one side to another and thus asymmetrical valance of vanadium ions at both sides lead to the capacity fading and lower energy efficiency, which is confirmed to result from the hydraulic pressure differential at both sides of separators. In this paper, the hydraulic pressures of solutions at both sides can be in-situ monitored, and regulated by varying the gas pressures in electrolyte tanks. It is found that the capacity can be stabilized and the net transfer of solutions can be prevented by slightly tailoring the hydraulic pressure differential at both sides of separators, which, however, doesn’t work for Nafion membranes, suggesting the negligible convection factor in flow cells using Nafion membranes. Therefore, the possibility of porous separators allows long-term running for VRBs without capacity loss, highlighting a new pathway to develop membranes used in VRBs.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1136600
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-94959; TE1400000
• Journal Information: ChemSusChem, Vol. 7, Issue 2; ISSN 1864-5631
• Publisher: ChemPubSoc Europe
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English