Climbing Alkaline Flow Battery

Are alkaline flow batteries safe?

We report an alkaline flow battery based on redox-active organic molecules that are composed entirely of Earth-abundant elements and are nontoxic, nonflammable, and safe for use in residential and commercial environments. The battery operates efficiently with high power density near room temperature.

Can a high-performance alkaline zinc-iron flow battery resist zinc dendrites?

In this study, we present a high-performance alkaline zinc-iron flow battery in combination with a self-made, low-cost membrane with high mechanical stability and a 3D porous carbon felt electrode. The membrane could provide high hydroxyl ion conductivity while resisting zinc dendrites well owing to its high mechanical stability.

Is alkaline zinc-iron flow battery a promising candidate for next-generation energy storage?

The results indicated that the alkaline zinc-iron flow battery system is one of the most promising candidates for next-generation large-scale energy storage systems. All methods can be found in the accompanying Transparent Methods supplemental file.

How efficient are alkaline all-iron flow batteries?

Alkaline all-iron flow batteries coupling with Fe (TEA-2S) and the typical iron-cyanide catholyte perform a minimal capacity decay rate (0.17% per day and 0.0014% per cycle), maintaining an average coulombic efficiency of close to 99.93% over 2000 cycles along with a high energy efficiency of 83.5% at a current density of 80 mA cm −2.

Can quinone-based flow batteries be adapted to alkaline solutions?

Dotted line represents CV of 1 M KOH background scanned at 100 mV/s on graphite foil electrode. We demonstrate that quinone-based flow batteries can be adapted to alkaline solutions, where hydroxylated anthraquinones are highly soluble and bromine can be replaced with the nontoxic ferricyanide ion (8, 9)—a food additive (10).

How to design a flow battery membrane?

When designing the membrane for flow batteries, such as Fe–Cr ARFBs, which are plagued by the ligand-crossing issue, the focus should be on endowing the membranes with excellent ionic conductivity and ionic selectivity to construct flow batteries with high efficiency and low capacity decay.