Research Raphaël Delogne

Abstract

Flow batteries are a promising technology for the stationary storage of intermittent renewable energy. Yet their commercial prospects are hindered by the lack of techniques to evaluate the durability of the different battery materials. This research project will enhance the performance and durability of flow batteries (FBs) for energy storage applications through the development of accelerated degradation techniques (ADTs). In the first stage of the project, benchmark values for critical parameters will be derived through systematic experimentation. Typical materials and electrochemical FBs will be used. Subsequently, the main part of the project will focus on developing ADTs to generate data for the creation of accurate state of health (SoH) models, speeding up material evaluation for durability prediction. To validate our results, we will prove the effectiveness of our methods by using them on state-of-the-art electrodes with controllable characteristics in collaboration with Prof. Antoni Forner-Cuenca of TU Eindhoven. The challenges related to efficiency, power density, and durability will be addressed through a systematic investigation of the impact of electrode geometry on overpotential. The ultimate outcome of this project will be to develop new ADTs and to gain insight in their ability towards drafting battery maintenance and remediation strategies as well as rapid evaluation of novel flow battery materials for the commercial development of this technology.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hereijgers Jonas
• Fellow: Delogne Raphaël

Research team(s)

• Applied Electrochemistry & Catalysis (ELCAT)

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Given that the share of renewable energy sources in the world's power mix is steadily increasing in response to treaties and actions against climate change, energy storage systems have become a crucial player to offset the intermittence coupled with renewable energy sources and allow to match production and demand. In this respect, flow batteries (FBs) offer an enormous potential for future worldwide large-scale battery capacity, given they are capable of storing large amounts of energy in an efficient way. Amongst all FBs, the all-vanadium flow battery (VFB) is the most upcoming energy storage technology because they offer several advantages compared to Li-ion batteries. They decouple power and storage capacity making them easily scalable. In addition, they are flexible and offer a long life cycle and zero long term cross-contamination. While significant attention has already gone towards improving the efficiency and power density of VFBs, there is still a lot of room for improvement, especially in terms of reducing the energy losses inherent to the system. In this regard, the electrode design has a critical role as it simultaneously impacts reaction kinetics, resistivity and mass transport, which should all be optimised to maximise performance. By designing and developing porous carbon electrodes with precisely tunable geometry and composition, this project tends to improve the overall battery performance. Besides the instantaneous battery performance, another important parameter is its lifetime, which has received far less attention. This because lifetime analysis is difficult and time consuming, hindering its uptake in industry. This project will tackle this issue by combining degradation analysis with physicochemical characterisation to establish the main degradation pathways and find solutions to overcome them. Moreover, to predict battery performance physics driven lifetime analysis models will be set up. As such this project will provide a benchmark for future development and research in the field of FBs.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Hereijgers Jonas
• Fellow: Delogne Raphaël

Research team(s)

• Applied Electrochemistry & Catalysis (ELCAT)

Project type(s)

• Research Project